the Best is Yet to Be
by lc59
Summary: A series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together. D/V
1. Dec07 Jan08

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

Title: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

Summary**: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

Spoilers: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted.

Pairings: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

Rating: PG at the moment. There will be 'mature' chapters but I'll post those in the appropriate section when the time comes.

Genre: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

Further A/N:

In the DV forum at GW, it was determined that judging by the clothes worn and the foliage on the trees that 'Family Ties' took place in the autumn, therefore 'Dominion' did too, as did 'Unending'.

So the timeline for this fiction starts approx a month after 'Unending', which sets up the entire timeline for this work of fiction.

At the beginning of each chapter I will post the time frame involved…including the year and when it's appropriate I will include the ages of our couple. I'm going with Daniel's 'canon' age…born in 1965, therefore in 2007 he is 42. Since we know almost nothing about when Vala was taken as a host I have made my own suppositions….which put her age around 36/37.

I'm not doing the 50 years as in 'Unending'…that would make Daniel 90ish and nursing homes are not attractive.

I'm sure there will be some of you that have read this at 'alldaniel' and some others through my LJ, so bear with me while I get the FF readers caught up.

So enjoy and whatever you want to say, I want to hear.

**December/07**

Vala sorted through the DVDs in the TV stand.

"So if the guys aren't joining us we could watch a chick flick."

"Nah, feel like something with more substance."

Samantha picked up a case she hadn't see before. "This is new. Have you watched it yet?"

Vala leaned over the blonde's shoulder.

"Yeah sort of. I started to, but this Shanks guy," she pointed to the name on the cover, "he's an amazing actor, but something about him reminded me so much of Daniel that it made the character extra creepy and I couldn't finish it."

"Oh okay," Sam picked up another movie, "how 'bout "The Thomas Crowne Affair"? Pierce Brosnan is always good."

"Sure, fine by me."

They settled on Vala's bed, a bowl of popcorn between them. Several minutes into the movie Sam realized that Vala was staring off into space, not at the movie. She nudged her dark-haired friend.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hmmm?" Vala glanced at her, "Oh nothing really, just thinking about those 50 years on the Odyssey, how sad and frustrated and lonely we must have been since we never hooked up with any of the guys. I mean how likely is that? We're all attractive, healthy adults with…Yikes!" she turned wide eyes to Sam, "you don't suppose the guys got together and left you and I to each other."

Sam choked on her Diet Coke.

"Ah no I don't," she shuddered, "First of all the likelihood of any of the guys getting involved with each other is nil, and God, the concept of my being involved with one of them is as disturbing as being intimate with my brother, but the thought of being involved like that with you is just surreal," she gave Vala an apologetic smile, "No offense."

Vala waved the sentiment away with a hand. "Oh absolutely none taken, but you know not hooking up with one of them just doesn't make sense since we're all adults with normal sex drives. Although I'm not sure about Daniel, he doesn't seem to have any sex drive at all."

Sam shot a look of mild exasperation at her. "Well I'm pretty sure that's not true. He just doesn't do casual," Sam turned her attention back to the movie, "Thought you understood that by now."

Vala sighed. "Yeah I do. Can't be healthy to suppress it like that though."

"Well, he seems healthy enough to me. Besides," Sam smirked, "I don't think he's suppressing, more like he's channeling it into his work, it's probably what fuels that level of concentration he's famous for."

Vala snorted a laugh, turning her attention back to the movie.

Several more minutes later Sam realized that Vala's attention had wandered away from the movie again. She tapped her friends' leg. Vala turned towards her.

"Hmmm?"

"Now what?"

Vala shrugged. "Just depressing myself with the thought of spending the rest of my life alone."

"Vala you're not alone, we're all family."

Vala raised an eyebrow. "You know that's not what I meant Sam."

Sam smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, okay I did."

Vala poked at the popcorn. "Ya know, sometimes I miss Tomin. He was a very sweet man…well before he became a religious zealot bent on domination of the galaxy that is, but when we were first together he was caring and kind and his face lit up when he saw me. I'd never had a man look at me like that before and I miss it. I'd like to find someone else who sees me that way, someone to create a home and family with."

Sam chose her words carefully. "So what about Daniel?"

It was Vala's turn to choke on her drink. She turned her head to look directly at Sam in disbelief.

"You're kidding right? Sam, he is and always will be my best friend, but as much as I'm attracted to…to that long, lean body," Vala stared off over Sam's right shoulder as if visualizing what she was describing, her voice becoming soft and distant, "and those amazing blue eyes." she trailed off, then suddenly realized that Sam was looking at her in amusement.

"You seem to have lost your train of thought." Sam observed dryly.

Vala grimaced in slight embarrassment. "Yeah, guess I did. So what was I saying?" she frowned, "oh yeah…as much as I'd like that kind of committed relationship with him, he's made it clear from the start that he's not interested in me like that. And since he never apparently changed his mind over those entire 50 years on Odyssey then obviously he never will. So I have to stop hoping or I really will be alone for the rest of my life."

Vala pulled the pillow out from behind her to fluff it up. "Time for me to find someone who wants that kind of relationship with me."

Sam settled back against her own pillow. "And how are you going to do that?"

Vala took a handful of popcorn and refocused her attention on the movie.

"I have no idea but I'll figure something out."

**January/08**

Vala breezed into Daniel's office humming.

"Good morning," she sing-songed.

Daniel looked up, raising an eyebrow at her. "Not exactly standard attire."

He went back to the rubbings he was transposing.

"This?" she glanced at the royal blue sweater and black pants she wore, " I know but since I wasn't doing anything except computer work I figured I wouldn't get messy before I go out to lunch."

She picked up their coffee mugs, turning around to find him watching her.

"Lunch out? Hmmm…none of the others mentioned it, but that's sounds good…"

Vala shook her head. " No Daniel, not the five of us, just me…I have a lunch date."

He blinked at her, a slight frown creasing his forehead.

"Oh," he turned his attention back to his task, "with whom?"

"A neighbour of Sam's. She introduced us last week when I stayed over after movie night," she watched him absently, missing that he was staring at a blank sheet of paper, "Nice man…widower with a little girl. Anyway he called me a couple of days ago to invite me out to lunch."

Daniel nodded, focused only on his finger rubbing at a spot on the blank paper in front of him.

"Just don't take the entire afternoon, okay? Keying in the new cataloguing information should be finished today."

He looked up to see her throwing him a cheeky salute.

"Yes boss."

He watched her exit with the coffee cups, leaving behind a whiff of her familiar perfume

**Lunchtime**

The repeated clicking and unclicking of the fastener on her shoulder bag was loud in the mostly empty elevator. The other occupant caught her eye with a look of annoyance.

"Sorry." Vala apologized with a smile.

Clasping her hands behind her back to still them Vala watched the numbers on the display screen steadily indicate their rise to ground level. Each passing number also matched her rising level of anticipation at spending time with a man who seemed genuinely interested in her as a woman, unlike that stupid archeologist she worked with who just couldn't see her as anything other than a friend and coworker; her rising pride that she had earned enough of General Landry's trust and confidence to allow her off-base without an escort, unlike that stupid archeologist she worked with that for whatever weird reason still had trust issues with her; and her rising anxiety that she wouldn't be able to pull this off without letting anything slip about the program or that she wasn't from Earth.

The elevator door slid open. Vala settled her bag on her shoulder, pulled her scarf snugly around her neck and made the short walk to the main doors to sign out. The airman at the door handed her a stylus and signature pad.

"Signing out on your own today, Ms. Mal Doran?"

Vala hesitated. "Is that a problem?"

He shook his head. "Not at all, ma'am. We have the memo from General Landry authorizing it attached to our day sheet. Just wanted to say congratulations and welcome to Earth."

Vala favoured him with a brilliant smile. "Thank you."

He smiled back. "You're welcome, ma'am. Enjoy your afternoon."

Vala opened the door and strolled the short distance down the tunnel. She took a deep breath as she emerged into the crisp January afternoon. The freedom she had worked hard to gain tasted sweet. She scanned the parking lot. He was several rows away lounging against his car. Feeling more nervous than a former sex-goddess should she moved towards him. He straightened up from his car when he caught sight of her. He was tall and slender with what Sam called 'Hollywood' looks. He greeted her with outstretched hands.

"Vala. It's nice to see you again. You look lovely."

She beamed up into eyes that were definitely not crystal blue.

"Thank you, Stuart."

**Later that afternoon**

A pen flung with enough force could do damage if it hit a person. Fortunately the one that whipped by Teal'c's nose as he arrived at the open door to Daniel's office hit the wall opposite the door and clattered harmlessly to the floor. Teal'c bent to retrieve it. He stepped into the office to return it to its owner, who was staring at him, mouth agape in horror.

"Oh God, Teal'c, I'm sorry. It didn't hit you did it?"

Teal'c handed him the pen. "It did not, but I would suggest DanielJackson that if this writing implement is no longer useful it would be more appropriate to dispose of it in a waste receptacle."

A sheepish expression flashed across Daniel's face as he took the pen. "Umm, yeah…right…I would do that but this one is still useful…that," he waved a hand in the direction of the door as he moved back to the paper-strewn worktable, "that was just a reaction to…to…uh…a moment of frustration."

"I see and what would be the source of your frustration DanielJackson?"

The archeologist shuffled through the papers in front of him.

"Uhh, Vala mostly," he shot a glance at his friend, "yeah I know, what else is new right?"

"Indeed," Teal'c murmured as he watched Daniel stare blankly at two sheets of paper. "She has not yet returned?"

Daniel's mouth tightened in annoyance.

"No, and I'm getting pissed off about it. I told her not to be gone all afternoon, that she had work that needed to be finished today, plus now there's something wrong about these rubbings we took on P8X 254 and I need to talk to her about them."

He straightened, dropping the papers to the tabletop in disgust. "But of course I'm not surprised, am I? No, it's just so typical of her to go gallivanting off with some guy, and…and what," he thrust his hands out to Teal'c, palms up, "what do we know about this guy? He…he could be another Trust operative."

"I believe DanielJackson, we know he is not. Did not the background check done on him last year when he took up residence next door to Samantha show him to be without suspicion?"

Daniel made a dismissive wave of his hand as he paced away from the worktable.

"Yeah, yeah, of course, I'd forgotten that, but there's still the issue of Vala being allowed off base without m…without an escort. I can't believe General Landry thought that was a good idea. I mean she isn't known for being able to keep her mouth shut about her origins and how likely is it that she's not going to let something slip about the SGC when she's flirting with this guy," he stopped and wagged a finger at Teal'c "and we know she's going to be flirting with him. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if she goes off with him for the rest of the afternoon to…" the pencil that he had earlier replaced the pen with suddenly snapped between his fingers.

He dropped it on this desk with a muttered, "cheap pencil."

Teal'c couldn't stop a small smile from twitching at his mouth as he listened to Daniel's brief tirade. It was going to please and amuse him to no end to watch his two friends stumble into their version of the fifty-year love affair Teal'c had witnessed on the Odyssey.

"Teal'c what are you smiling about?"

The Jaffa brought his thoughts back to the moment and focused on his friend's startled face.

He dipped his head in a faint bow. "Nothing, DanielJackson. I was momentarily struck by the aptness of yet another truism from the Asgard database."

"Oh and that'd be?"

" 'Everything old is new again'. "

Utter confusion wrinkled Daniel's brow and clouded his blue eyes.

"Uhhh…yeah…thank you, Teal'c, for that cryptic yet unhelpful thought. I really have no idea…."

The sudden appearance of a pair of slim arms snaking around Teal'c waist brought the exchange to an abrupt stop. The familiar husky, accented voice was muffled behind Teal'c's back and tinged with amusement.

"You make a very attractive door Muscles, but I do need to get past you."

Teal'c moved to one side, bestowing on the raven-haired woman a slight bow and a small smile.

"I am pleased, ValaMalDoran, that you have returned in time to assist me as promised."

She paused beside him in the doorway. "Wouldn't let you down, Teal'c. Just give me a minute to reassure," Vala slid her gaze to Daniel, then looked back to Teal'c with a wink, "my taskmaster that I'll complete the cataloguing information before he's done for the day, which knowing how late Daniel works gives me at least until 10…oops I mean 22 hundred."

Teal'c gave her a quick bow as he moved into the corridor. "That would be satisfactory. I shall see you in Conference Room A shortly."

She turned a brilliant smile on the room's other occupant.

"Daniel…"

"Vala," he interrupted before her warm smile could distract him completely, " I appreciate that you're willing to work into the evening to finish the keying, but I've also found a problem with the rubbings from P8X-254 that we need to solve so perhaps you could forego whatever you were helping Teal'c with."

She frowned at him. "Well, no I can't, Daniel. I'm committed to helping him teach conversational Gou'ald to the current group of recruits," she stepped up to him placing a soft hand on his chest, "so just one hour okay and I promise I'll come back then in proper attire and give you my undivided attention for the rest of the day."

He looked down at her. Eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed from the cold air outside, she was far more appealing than was wise for him to admit.

He sighed. "Fine. One hour."

She gave his chest a gentle pat as she turned to go. "Thank you, Daniel. I'll be back before you know it."

"Yeah, okay."

"Oh and Vala?" he added as she reached the door.

She stopped and turned back to him.

"Uhhh…if it'll get you back here sooner, don't bother…uh," he gestured at how she was dressed, "changing…um…you're…fine as you are."

With just a brilliant smile and playful salute, she was gone, leaving behind the familiar scent that had haunted his workspace all day.


	2. Feb 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

Title: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

Summary**: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

Spoilers: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted.

Pairings: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

Rating: PG at the moment. There will be 'mature' chapters but I'll post those in the appropriate section when the time comes.

Genre: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N: **Don't think there's anything I need to say about this chapter. Oh but I do need to mention all the lovely people that have done beta work for me...all from the DV forum at GW...Isa, Milena, Darryl, Erin and...and...and of course Kris for her enthusiasm and support.

**Feb/2008 Saturday**

Vala wandered down the corridor lost in thought. She was brought up short by two familiar male forms suddenly blocking her path.

"Oh hey," she greeted them.

"Hey." they responded in unison.

She looked at them for a moment, transfixed at a purely shallow level by their appearance. Obviously fresh from some of sort of workout, perspiration streaked t-shirts clung to firm, toned torsos, the same perspiration lent a faint sheen to the exposed skin of well-defined biceps and made their almost identical thatches of brown hair spiky. They reeked of testosterone and no matter how hard she tried to deny it, ignore it or squelch it, the one with the crystal blue eyes made her pulse race.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Umm Vala, something on your mind?"

She glanced down quickly at the items in her hand, "Ah yeah…Stuart has a family emergency that's taken him out of town suddenly so I now have two tickets for a Beatles tribute band, but no one to go with." she looked up hopefully at them.

"Either of you interested?"

Cam shook his head. "Sorry, Amy's comin' in tonight so I gotta get some stuff and clean up my place."

Daniel swiped the corner of the towel hanging around his neck over his face.

"Uh…sure…I'll go…I was looking for a change of pace anyway. What time?"

Vala looked down at the tickets, focusing on answering his question instead of the fleeting trace of his scent that drifted towards her as he wiped his face.

"Um…9."

"Okay, give me an hour or so to get cleaned up and then we can decide if we want to eat in town too. Sound good?"

She nodded happily. "Sounds great. Thanks."

He smiled. "Yup, no problem, see you in a while."

**Later**

Daniel tucked his shaving kit back onto the locker shelf and reached for the turtleneck sweater hanging on the hook. He knew he was insane. Insane to torture himself. That's what spending the evening out with Vala as a friend would be. He was a coward too. He could face down inter-galactic bad guys with the best of them, but the idea of taking Vala out and acknowledging that it was a 'date' scared him in ways the galactic bad guys never could. Galactic bad guys weren't going to sidle up to him with a knowing smirk, seduce him into bed and then leave him once he was another notch on the bedpost. Well okay, Adria had tried that as part of her galactic domination plan and he'd managed to survive, but only with the protection of a superior consciousness. Without Merlin he wouldn't have stood a chance against Adria. Just like he wouldn't stand a chance against Vala if she ever understood how he really felt about her. Which she would begin to if he actually took her out on a real 'date'. No, much better for his own sanity that she think he was going with her just so she wouldn't miss the concert. That he wasn't taking the opportunity to step into the spot where he belonged more than anyone else did. That she not figure out that he hated her seeing someone else. That he was going crazy thinking about her and some other guy…

Daniel pushed the locker door shut with a little too much force. The resulting clang made Cam jump as he emerged from a shower stall. He eyed his teammate with annoyance.

"Geez Jackson, couldya make anymore noise?"

"Sorry, door slipped outta my hand." Daniel mumbled.

He barely heard Cameron's reply as he pulled on socks and shoes. He stood to retrieve his wallet from the top shelf of the locker.

"Don't suppose it's occurred to you that Monday is February 14th and this concert was probably this guy's…what's his name?"

Shrugging, Daniel took his glasses off to clean them.

"I dunno…Hubert or something."

Cam snorted a laugh. "Isn't 'Hubert' the name of that really annoying guy in those cat food commercials.

Daniel shrugged again. "I have no idea."

He slid his glasses back, still hearing the faint amusement in Mitchell's voice.

"Right yeah…anyway 'Hubert' probably meant this concert as their Valentine's date."

Daniel paused, his hand on the latch of the locker door.

"That might matter to me if this was a date, but it isn't. This is my going with Vala to a part of our culture she's never experienced before."

"Uhunh. Just keep sayin' that and mabbe somebody'll believe ya."

"Just so long as Vala does." Daniel muttered under his breath, latching the door and clicking the lock shut.

He turned to scoop up the used towels and his duffle bag on the bench behind him, catching sight of his CO's reflection in the mirror. Cam was staring at him. Apparently the 'under-his-breath' comment hadn't been completely inaudible.

"So Sam was right?"

Daniel cringed a little inside; sometimes he hated how well Sam understood him. He headed for the door.

"She probably knows me better than anyone."

"So is this situation going to be a problem for the team?"

Daniel didn't turn around. "Has it so far?"

"No, but what if she gets serious with this guy?'

Daniel reached for the door handle.

"Doubt that Vala'd get serious with any guy and if she does…I'll cope."

"Jackson…Daniel?"

The archeologist turned back to find his friend eyeing him seriously. Daniel folded his arms across his chest and waited.

Cam cleared his throat. "Umm...at the risk of sounding like I'm condoning two of my team fraternizing can I make a suggestion…ya know guy-to-guy?"

Daniel raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Cam cleared his throat again. "Uhh…try little steps, see where it goes."

Daniel considered him for a moment, then slowly unfolded his arms.

"You done?"

Cam shrugged. "Ah,yeah…guess so."

Nodding, Daniel dropped his gaze to the floor for an instant. He looked back up at his CO with another nod.

"Thanks…I'll…uh…keep that in mind," he pulled the door open, "night."

The door closed behind him with a gentle hiss of air.

**At the concert**

The hand suddenly clutching at his arm was unexpected. He glanced down at her. She gave him a brilliant smile that did nothing to belie the nervousness in her eyes.

"Sorry, it's getting kinda crowded…wouldn't want to get separated"

Daniel plucked her hand off his sleeve and wrapped his other hand around hers before she could finish the statement.

"Okay?" he asked lightly, betraying none of the private fear her words had triggered.

Losing her because he wasn't paying attention was not a nightmare he wanted to repeat a fourth time.

Vala nodded with an even brighter smile. "Okay."

He responded with a small nod, relieved that her smile was now reflected in her eyes. In the past he would have been exasperated that she couldn't just admit to being uneasy in a crowd, but with time he had learned that she automatically hid fear and anxiety behind brilliant smiles and sarcastic words. It was from her eyes that he was learning he could read all her true feelings, beyond whether or not she was lying to him.

He looked up to the signs hanging overhead, found the one they needed and tugged her forward into the mass of people around them. It wasn't until they arrived at the row their seats were in that he realized at some point during their walk from the lobby their fingers had become intertwined. Sliding his hand away from hers he motioned her forward to their seats and immediately missed the warmth of her hand tucked into his. He took the seat beside her, reaching by instinct to help her shed the brilliant red parka she wore. His fingers brushed over the soft, smooth curve where her neck and shoulder met. _Yeah, this evening was going to be torture._

Sitting across from her at a table in the midst of O'Malley's Saturday night crowd had resulted in the nights' first torture inducing moment when she shrugged out of her parka. The neck of her black sweater was not low-cut in the traditional sense. It didn't reveal any cleavage, instead it sat at a point just below her collarbones and curved around her in an even line leaving her neck and the tops of her shoulders bare. This was not her usual blatant style. This was subtle and too intensely provocative for his sanity. It also hadn't helped his sanity to recognize that the lack of straps to mar the curve of her neck and shoulders probably meant she wasn't wearing anything under the sweater. Nor had it helped that the faint tinkle of her long earrings as she moved her head kept drawing his eyes back to her shoulders. He spent too much time at dinner trying to not think about trailing kisses along the pale, gleaming column of her throat, pushing the sweater aside and continuing the kisses downward.

Now shoulder to shoulder to her, he knew the torture wasn't going to abate because he realized that every time he turned his head in her direction he was going to get an eyeful of delicate, creamy skin. Soon the little primal voice in the back of his head was going to start wondering if nipping and sucking on that surface would make her moan.

Daniel pressed his mouth into a hard line almost biting the inside of his lip in an effort to deflect those thoughts before the tingle in his groin got serious. For the next few minutes he distracted himself by shedding his own coat, tucking his hat and gloves into coat sleeves and perusing the program they had bought at the entrance. He had reached the pages of concert sponsors at the end of the booklet when it occurred to him just how uncharacteristically silent Vala was. Closing the program he looked over at her. She was leaning forward in her seat, taking in everything around her with rapt fascination. He leaned towards her and nudged her arm.

"Hey."

She turned to him with the bright smile that usually lit up his mornings.

"Enjoying yourself?"

With an emphatic nod, she returned to watching the people on the stage adjusting equipment.

"Ever been to anything like this before?"

Her smile fading a bit, she shook her head without looking at him.

"Surviving at the edges of society doesn't leave a lot of opportunity for taking in cultural events. And Qetesh wasn't one for music. She preferred the sound of people paying homage to her."

Daniel watched her, his heart aching for all she had endured. All he wanted for her was a life that made these memories distant and irrelevant. She sat back in her seat, her smile now wistful.

"I do have vague memories though from before my mother died of musical events in my hometown, but not on this scale. All the performers would have been local and," she laughed softly her gaze sweeping over the venue, "I'm sure the entire population of my hometown would fit in here and then some."

She turned to look directly at him.

"And have you been to lots of these?"

He shrugged. " A few, but not lots. Sam and I have taken," he stopped, suddenly aware that the seats around them were filling up, "Murray to a couple of jazz concerts."

He grinned suddenly. "And Sarah dragged me to a Pink Floyd concert once."

Vala's squeak of surprise interrupted him. "Pink Floyd? Daniel, I've watched that Pink Floyd concert DVD of Cameron's and that would've been…."

He glanced at her. "Loud, Vala…it was very loud. I couldn't hear properly for a couple of days afterward."

"Well no I wasn't going to say loud, I was going to say amazing and so," she smirked at him, "so completely out of character for you."

"Yeah well, notice I said Sarah dragged me. She didn't tell me where we were going because she knew I would protest, which I did at first, but," he ducked his head sheepishly, "in one of my rare moments of being less of an ass than usual I realized how much she was enjoying herself so I shut my mouth and put up with it."

When Vala didn't make an immediate response he looked back up to find her studying him with a frown.

"Sarah became Os…"

Noting the couple settling into the seats beside Vala he answered quickly before she could complete the name.

"Yeah, she did."

"So you've known three," Vala paused for a moment, glancing at the people around them, "of us?"

"Yup, guess so."

She shook her head in amazement, "How is that possible?"

He lifted one shoulder in a brief, dismissive shrug. "Just the luck of my life apparently that I get to see three people I care about cope with the same thing."

Daniel settled back in his seat as the announcer for the evening appeared on stage. Vala's hand sliding into his drew his attention back to her. He looked over. She was favouring him with a bright, happy smile.

"Thank you Daniel, for coming tonight. If you hadn't I wouldn't be getting to see this."

He considered her for a moment, drinking her in. This was his girl. Beautiful, unguarded, genuine, irresistible.

Smiling softly he squeezed her hand. "You're welcome."

The lights went out. The announcer's voice boomed 'The Beatles" from the speakers and the heavy guitar opening riff of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" reverberated through the arena.

For the rest of the evening and unnoticed by either one, her hand stayed clasped in his.

**Sunday**

Daniel propped his feet up on the chair opposite him, inhaling the aroma drifting from the mug cradled in his hands. He was content and relaxed in his own place. It was welcome after the night before. Not that the concert had been that torturous; at least not to his ears. Just torturous on other levels. Pleasantly torturous. Pleasant, to spend an evening with Vala on their own, doing something that resembled normal. Torturous though to have to treat her like a friend. He had almost given up the charade when she planted a quick, thank you kiss on his cheek as she got out of the car. It had taken everything he had to not pull her back into the car and kiss her properly. That would have been madness. One proper kiss from him and his sweet, genuine Vala would have been replaced by the seductress and he wasn't sure he would've been able to resist the temptation to spend a night making love to her any longer. Which is what, he figured, it would have been. One night. Nothing more. Nothing close to the loving, supportive relationship he wanted with her.

He got up to pour the last of the coffee into his cup. Now restless, the quiet pressing in more like solitude than peace, he wandered into the living room, flipping on the stereo as he passed. He stopped at the balcony doors, staring at the overcast February sky.

He didn't understand why this all had to be so hard. He was done mourning. The year with Shau'ri was the happiest he had ever been and he was grateful for the memories, but he was ready to move on. He didn't want to be alone anymore. Somehow though it didn't surprise him that with the screwy history of his life, the one woman he wanted to be with, the one who, in one fell swoop had brought his entire being roaring back to life, would be the wrong one. The one who just didn't want him as anything more than a source of sexual amusement. The one who could destroy him either because she would leave when she got bored with him or because she would die on the battlefield of their work

Daniel sipped at his coffee, barely registering the music from the oldies station the stereo was tuned to. The fear of losing her to the violence in their lives was almost as great as the fear that she'd never be serious about him. He had lost so many people to the enemies they battled. The thought of watching her go down to enemy fire and not being able to save her was almost enough to make him break down on the spot. He closed his eyes against the sudden moisture gathering in the corners.

Music from the previous night floated through his brain, triggering images. Vala radiant, excited and fascinated by the whole experience. Vala, making him laugh, making him get up with the rest of the audience during "Twist and Shout". Her, not completely surprising, understanding of the mind-altered state in "Lucy". The discovery during the intermission that they shared an unhealthy taste for Pogos. The revelation on the drive back to the base when she started her own rendition of "Let it Be", that she had a rich, throaty singing voice that make his insides shiver.

He opened his eyes and realized the music echoing in his head was faintly emanating from the stereo. He went to it, boosting the volume. The caressing voice of George Harrison was instantly recognizable.

"…_attracts me like no other lover….."_

Shaking his head, he returned to the kitchen. He couldn't deny the truth of those words. From the moment she took the helmet off, there'd been a deep down primal attraction between them. He had even been open for a few moments to succumbing to her after that weird little physical tussle…or foreplay session…or whatever it was. They were complete strangers who weren't likely to ever cross paths again and it had been so very long since he'd been with a woman and she kept offering herself. Then it became obvious that her only intention was to put him in a vulnerable state so she could keep control of the ship. After that he wouldn't let himself believe that he'd ever be anything to her other than someone to use to get her way or an amusing diversion to relieve boredom.

Believing that made everything else much easier. Easier to convince himself that he only brought her back from the Ori ship because sacrificing herself to destroy the Supergate proved that she could go beyond her own selfish needs and wants to work for the greater good. Proved that she deserved a chance to find a place with them.

He wouldn't let himself examine too closely why he wanted her to find a place with them. That would have meant admitting things he didn't want to. Like his nearly passing out on the Promotheus after she disappeared through the Supergate had more to do with the sudden sense of loss that rippled through him than any residual effect of the bracelets. Like why that same sense of loss had almost torn him apart when the Trust took her. Like why that sense of loss felt almost the same as losing Shau'ri. Like how he was falling a little harder and deeper in love with her as she showed him more and more of who she really was. That was who attracted him like no other lover; the real Vala.

Daniel added the small frying pan to the rest of his breakfast dishes already stacked in the rack and removed the stopper to let the water drain from the sink. Wiping his hands on a towel he wandered down the hall to his study. Originally the master bedroom, he took it as his study when he first moved in. The other three thought he was nuts, but it just made more sense to him. A bedroom he only used to sleep in and keep his clothes in so it only needed to be big enough for his bed, a nightstand and a dresser. His study though was where he spent most of his time so it needed to be big enough for a full size desk, and shelves to hold all his books. That it was also bright and sunny with a small balcony that overlooked the park at the back of the building was just an added bonus. He sat down at the desk and stared unfocused at the months' worth of mail his cleaning lady had left piled in the middle.

He was in love with Vala. There was an admission that should have terrified him. Funnily it didn't. Mostly what he felt was relief. He was tired of fighting it. He had to spend more and more mental energy telling himself that seeing her smile first thing in the morning didn't really make the rest of his day better. The constant internal arguments with himself were making him overly grumpy, with everyone. Especially Vala. He knew there were times when he had been unnecessarily harsh with her. Times when he had hurt her because he'd lashed out at her when he was having a particularly hard time convincing himself that he wasn't in love with her. Seeing the hurt flare her eyes just made it worse because then he had to work even harder to pretend that knowing he had hurt her wasn't killing him.

Sighing, he pulled off his glasses and rubbed his hand over his face. He didn't want to do it anymore. He couldn't. Didn't want to be alone. Couldn't push her away. Couldn't stand her being with someone else. Daniel exhaled a harsh laugh as he put his glasses back on. Supposedly half the solution to a problem is admitting there is a problem. So now that he'd admitted he was in love with her what was the rest of the solution?

Small steps? Like Mitchell suggested? Daniel began to pull pieces of junk mail out of the mess in front of him. Small, casual steps that would put just the two of them in circumstances outside of work so he could figure out if they had a chance together. Any big declarations of his feelings at this point were more likely to make 'his girl' morph into the seductress who would turn her knowing smirk on him and seduce him into bed before he was ready for it. Okay that wasn't completely true. He was more than ready. He just didn't think falling into bed instantly was the wise way for them to start.

He dropped the wad of junk mail into the recycling box. Small steps? Yeah, he could do that.

**Monday**

"Dr. Jackson to conference room two please. Dr. Jackson, conference room two." the voice on the PA was tinged with amusement that the man being summoned was late.

Vala looked up from where she sat at the extra computer terminal as Daniel, agitated and muttering to himself in a language she didn't understand came barreling into the room.

"Morning." she offered gently.

He shot a testy glance at her. "Morning."

"What…?" she started to ask

He cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Everything…overslept…couldn't find my keys, …accident on the road from town."

"And now," he sorted through the books and papers on the worktable surface," I can't figure out where the notes are I needed for this briefing."

He looked over at her. "Do you know what happened to them?"

"Yes Daniel, they're on your desk."

He followed her gaze to where the file folder, a fresh mug of coffee and a chocolate croissant waited for him.

He blinked in confusion. "Umm…thanks," he focused on her, "but how'd…?"

She shrugged. "You're pretty predictable Daniel. When you didn't show up at your usual time and you still weren't here 15 minutes before the briefing I figured when you did arrive you'd be hungry and needing coffee. Oh and your notes are in exactly the same place they were when we left on Saturday."

He gave her a sheepish smile from where he now stood at his desk.

"Umm yeah…I remember now," he took a swig of his morning elixir, closing his eyes in bliss as the liquid, prepared exactly the way he liked it, slid down his throat. He opened his eyes again, with a brighter expression this time.

"Thanks."

She smiled. "You're welcome. I believe keeping the head archeologist content and focused is part of my job."

He looked at her intently. "Right. Umm..do you…" the PA speaker in the phone on his desk cut his sentence short.

"Dr. Jackson, since you've signed in topside any time now would good please." the voice more than just faintly amused.

Daniel pushed the button to respond. "Yeah, I'm coming." he picked up the items on his desk and started for the door.

"Daniel?"

He stopped in the doorway to look back at her. "Yeah?"

"You started to say…'do you'…do I what?"

Confusion flooded his face for a second. "Oh right…do you want to get lunch in town today?"

Vala smiled brightly. "Sure I'm always happy to eat somewhere other than the commissary. I'll tell the others."

He shook his head. "No I meant, just us," he made a small shrug with one shoulder, "sorta like payback for the concert on Saturday."

"Oh! Yeah, I'd like that."

"Okay, see…"

The PA interrupted again.

"Jackson!" Lt. Col Mitchell's sharp command made them both smirk.

"Well now that Mitchell's made it a direct order I better go, huh?"

"Guess so."

Daniel gave her small smile. "See ya for lunch."

He was gone before she could reply.


	3. Mar 2008

chap 1 _Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: PG at the moment. There will be 'mature' chapters but I'll post those in the appropriate section when the time comes.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:**

The foods mentioned in this are authentic. I figured, given that Daniel spent his early years in Egypt, the foods of that region would be, in some respects, comfort food for him.

And on a general note, I tried really hard to stay within the 'canon' timeline, but with the changing of release dates for the DVDs and the developing timeline for SGA I had to fudge stuff, so as this story develops you'll find the timing for AoT, Sam's going to Atlantis, and later her return and the events of Continuum are all slightly off, but I think overall I've fit everything in(including Daniel's excursion to Atlantis in SGA S5) quite nicely.

**March 2008**

The knock at the door took her by surprise.

"Hang on a minute, someone's at my door."

Vala got up and crossed the room, the phone still in her hand. She pulled the door open and tried to ignore the way her heart flipped at the sight of her visitor.

"Daniel."

"Hi…" he started only to be stopped by her raising a silencing finger at him.

She turned away as she put the phone to her ear.

"Sorry sweetie gotta go, one of my coworkers needs to talk to me," she paused by the night table where the base for the phone was, "Yeah I know, me too. Okay bye."

She slid the receiver back into the cradle and turned to him with a brilliant smile.

"So what's up? What are you doing here?"

He unclenched the hand that had tightened around the doorknob while he listened to her side of the phone conversation and shoved it into a pocket of his jeans.

He shrugged, "Umm, nothing really," he dropped his gaze to the floor for an instant then quickly shot a look up at her from under his lashes, a tiny teasing smile flickered over his mouth, "Uh, would you believe I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd drop by."

She crossed the room to him, a little unnerved. That particular smile when he teased her always made her breath catch.

"Knowing you that's probably not far from the truth, but you don't usually just drop by my quarters. "

He shrugged again, shoving his other hand into his other pocket.

"Yeah well, I came in a couple of hours ago because that text I couldn't get yesterday was bugging me, but it's still eluding me and I'm going cross-eyed looking at it. I thought a change of scenery might help, some fresh air maybe, do something different," shrugging again he rocked back on his heels, "and I just wondered if you wanted to come with me," he rocked back onto the flat of his feet and looked at her intently, "that is unless…unless you have other plans."

Vala turned away, slightly flustered by how intensely focused on her he was.

"Umm, no I don't, not anymore at least," she pulled the red, glittery clip from her hair, "I did, but not now. Stu's daughter apparently has too much homework to finish to go anywhere today."

Picking up a brush off the dresser, she focused all her attention on brushing her hair instead of the image in the mirror of the tall, broad-shouldered man standing behind her. She missed how attentive he was to the brush moving through the ebony waves of her hair.

She clipped the red barrette back into place, "We were supposed to be going treasure hunting…"

"Treasure hunting Vala?"

Hearing the mild rebuke in his voice, she shot a look of annoyance at his reflection.  
"Some credit please Daniel. It's what Stu's daughter called it when she suggested we wander around a fleece market."

"Uh Vala, I think you mean 'flea market'. 'Fleece' is the wool coat of a sheep. Although," he cocked his head and raised his eyebrows slightly, " 'to fleece' someone does mean to scam or con them and I know I've come across some flea market vendors that were definitely con artists," he shrugged, "so okay calling it a 'fleece' market works too."

His mouth twisted into a smirk, "I hope you were planning to use your expertise in that area to keep your…uhh," he couldn't say 'boy', "friend from getting conned."

Now removing the second barrette she had clipped into place she stuck her tongue out at his reflection.

He laughed softly, the teasing smirk softening to an affectionate smile

"You know," he offered, "we could do that if you want."

"Do what?" she pulled the wand out of a tube of lip-gloss and applied it to her lips.

"Go wander around," the corners of his mouth twitched in amusement making the dimple in one cheek flash, "that 'fleece' market. Although we'll have to figure out where you were going since it'll have to be an indoor fleece market at this time of year."

The wand poised over her lips she stared at him in surprise.

"You're joking?"

"Nope. I used to do it fairly regularly when I was in college. Great way for a student with no money to find interesting old books."

She stared at him a moment longer and then grinned.

"I always suspected you were more of a treasure hunter that you let on Daniel."

He shrugged. "There's a bit of a treasure hunter in every archeologist Vala and I'm no exception." he fixed a soft, focussed look on her, "it's exciting to discover something that's appealing and valuable to us. I've just never done it for profit like you have." he straightened up from leaning against the doorframe. "So are we going?"

"Oh absolutely!"

She almost bounced over to him, scooping up her parka and shoulder bag off the bed before propelling him out the door in the direction of the elevator.

**Later**

Shaking his head Daniel watched Vala hand the vendor a 5 dollar bill.

"I can't believe you're buying that."

She looked at him in mock offence. "Hey you should be relieved I'm not stealing it so I can could resell it for a tidy profit."

He smirked. "Good point. Seriously though, what are you going to do with it?"

She pocketed her change and handed one of the ceramic containers to the vendor for wrapping.

"I have no idea. I'm not even sure what it is, but I like how they don't look like they should belong together but then you discover that the jagged edges fit together to make a perfect whole."

Daniel picked up the remaining white ceramic container to examine it. Pushing his glasses up onto his forehead, he squinted at the flecks of barely discernible black script.

"I'd say they're coffee mugs and 'his' and 'hers' used to be printed on them.

Vala gave the second mug to the vendor. "Oh well that's perfect then for work isn't it? We can get them repainted and we'll know which one is yours and which one is mine."

He grimaced. "Don't even think about putting my good coffee in one of those scuzzy mugs."

She pouted slightly as they turned away from the table. "Oh very well. I suppose I could put a plant in them like Sam does."

Daniel leaned down to her, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"Vala, you live and work 23 floors underground I don't think a plant's going to get much sun in your quarters."

"Okay then, I could leave it at Sam's place."

"Or mine."

Vala slanted a look of disbelief at up at him.

"No offense Daniel, but do you actually go home enough to keep a plant alive."

He laughed softly. "Granted, but is Sam any better?"

She shrugged. "I suppose not, but why then do all her plants look so healthy?"

"Because Nancy, her cleaning lady looks after them and since Nancy also does my place, I'm sure if you left a plant on my kitchen counter she would keep it watered too."

"Oh!" she blinked at him, "okay…thanks."

"Yeah, no problem. Now can we get some food? I'm starving."

His hand settled lightly in the small of her back, the increasingly familiar pool of protective warmth radiating from her spine out to every part of her as he guided her outside to the car.

**Dinner**

Vala stared in stunned silence. She turned to Daniel with a raised eyebrow. His response was a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, I know it's over-the-top, kinda reminds me of Ali Baba's cave, but it's comfortable and relaxing and the food's as close to authentic as I've found in Colorado."

"Yes well, I have no idea who the Ali guy is but it reminds me of Qetesh's private quarters."

He snorted a laugh. "That would figure given the cultural influences are from the same area of Earth."

"Daniel, my friend!"

The enthusiastic greeting from the other side of the restaurant made them turn. A small man with dusky skin and slicked back salt and pepper hair wound his way around other seating areas towards them. Daniel smiled and took a step forward to greet him. The other man grasped his outstretched hands.

"It is good to see you. How are you my friend?"

"I am well Kazeem and you?"

The small man moved his shoulders in a deprecating manner. "As well as I can be in this business."

Daniel glanced around. "It does seem quiet, but is business poor?"

Kazeem waved his hands to negate the concern. "No, no, it is early yet, later we will be busy. I meant only that this business is always full of headaches," he reached behind the reception table beside him to retrieve menus, " but no matter, come I have seating for two further back that would be suitable for you and," he looked directly at Vala, his deep brown eyes shining in the soft light, "this lovely lady."

Daniel glanced down Vala and seemed to realize suddenly what he had forgotten to do. She thought a tinge of pink touched his cheeks but it was hard to tell in the muted light.

"Umm, that would be fine Kazeem and yeah sorry, this is Vala."

The restaurateur flicked a glance at Daniel and Vala had the distinct impression that her name was known to Kazeem.

"Ah," he nodded in understanding, took a small step to the side and gestured them forward, "it is a pleasure to have you both here this evening, this way please."

The seating area he took them to was like the ones at the front, just smaller. It resembled a pit with a short, square pedestal table in the centre. A thickly upholstered bench seat strewn with soft, plush cushions curved around three sides of the table, the fourth side was open to two steps down from regular floor level to allow the waitress to go down to table side so the food could be placed on the table safely.

Following Daniel's example, Vala removed her shoes and moved to descend the steps. Instantly his hand was at her back, guiding her, the other hand under her elbow to steady her. She took the steps down, her sock feet sinking into thick carpet. Sliding onto the heavily upholstered bench she found herself in luxuriant comfort. It took a few moments of rearranging cushions to find her most relaxing position but once she had she looked across the table at Daniel. He was watching her with a small indulgent smile.

"Comfortable?"

She grinned. "Oh yes. I haven't been anywhere this luxurious since Qe.."

Daniel's finger on his lips shushed her. His backward glance over her head told her there were others close by. Kazeem, accompanied by a waitress carrying a tray that held a basin of steaming fragrant liquid and two hand towels appeared at the steps.

"Here you are my friends, warm water and towels to clean and refresh yourselves. Sharon will return for the basin and your orders once you've had a look at the menus and I will bring whatever beverages you wish. **Sharbaat,** Daniel?"

"Please."

"Very good and for your lady?"

The corners of Daniel's mouth curved up. "Would your bartender be able to make a passion fruit martini?"

Vala stifled a tiny growl in her throat and watched the corners of Daniel's mouth tilt upwards further.

"For this lovely lady I am certain he will. Anything else?"

"Yes s**harbaat** for Vala as well, and I don't think we'll need the menus; the lamb tagine and whatever else is good tonight that you think we'd enjoy with it would be fine, oh and the baba ghanoush."

"Excellent. And for dessert…your usual Daniel?

Vala watched a grin spread across Daniel's face.

"Of course Kazeem, you know it's mostly what I come here for."

"And coffee for both?

Daniel considered Vala for a moment. "Ah no, just for myself, Vala's not much of a coffee drinker and I'm not sure she'd like the version you serve here, I think just tea would be better."

When the basin had been replaced with their beverages along with a small dish and a basket of flatbread, they regarded each other across the table. Vala found herself unable to hold his gaze for very long without succumbing to the temptation to fall into his eyes.

She picked up her drink and sipped at it.

"So what's the cultural influence here?"

"Uh, northern Africa mostly, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco. So it's not surprising that you recognize some elements here from your time with Qetesh, although she is technically more Syrian, but neighbouring countries will usually share some cultural elements," a sudden look of speculation crossed his face, "hmm…I wonder how much heat you can handle."

Her mouth twitched into a seductive smirk. "Whatever you can dish out Daniel."

With bated breath she waited for the pucker of annoyance to appear between his eyebrows. She was mildly surprised when it didn't.

He shook his head. "I meant how much heat can you handle in your food Vala."

She grinned at him, relieved that he didn't actually seem annoyed. "Oh I knew that Daniel, but sometimes I just can't resist teasing you."

"Next time, try harder."

She pouted slightly. "Daniel sometimes you are no fun."

"Yes, so you've said before, but you haven't answered my question; do you like food spicy?"

She shrugged. "I suppose so, I haven't eaten anything on Earth yet that was too hot. Is this food hot?"

"Traditionally some of it is. It's been toned down here to suit the blander American palette but we'll be getting some condiments that'll boost the heat level considerably, so go easy okay until you find what you can tolerate."

"I take you like it hot."

He paused and for a split second Vala thought he was going to return her previous suggestive remark, then the moment was gone and his answer was decidedly unsuggestive.

"Yeah I do, but then I've eaten this food for a large part of my life, some I even consider comfort food from my childhood, like the baba ghanoush," he picked up the bowl containing an off-white creamy substance with dark flecks and dragged a piece of flatbread through it, "was an after school snack. And the lamb tagine here is a lot like my mothers' version."

She caught the tiny flicker in his voice at the word 'mother', she wondered if he even realized it was there, then bowls and platters food began to arrive and the mouth-watering aromas distracted her.

Conversation between them had never been so easy and ranged from a serious comparison between Earth politics and other planets to a story from Vala's smuggling days. Six months earlier the tale would have made him frown in disapproval. Now it earned her laughter and the rare Jackson smile that slowly spread across his face and lit his eyes like sunshine on water. She was entranced. She even put up with his brief lapses into doctor of archeology mode just so she could see the same light in his eyes when he talked about subjects that he loved.

Most of the food was gone when Vala finally got up enough nerve to broach the subject she had been thinking about since his comment about his mother. She took the last mouthful of the sweet fruit drink and cleared her throat.

"Can I ask you a question?"

He stopped, the piece of flatbread holding the last morsel of lamb from his plate halfway to his mouth. He put it back on his plate and wiped his fingers on the gold damask napkin.

"That question always makes me nervous Vala, just say what's on your mind."

She fiddled with her napkin and shrugged.

"I…I was just wondering about your parents is all, I mean I've picked up little snippets at work but never the whole thing and never from you and I wondered if you would…unless you don't want to, which is fine too because I understand you know," she couldn't look at him for fear the open warmth that had been in his eyes had been cooled by her request, "because sometimes talking about my mother is difficult even now."

His hand on hers stopped her fidgeting with the napkin. She looked up. The warmth in his eyes hadn't flickered.

"It's fine Vala, really. I don't mind talking about them. I'm sorry though for putting you in the position of having to ask. Frankly you seem to have been part of my life for so long now that until you just said so I didn't actually realize that the topic hadn't come up between us before."

She shrugged. "Oh well you know it's not one of those everyday topics and it would be kinda weird to say in the middle of a mission, 'oh by the way, I should tell you how my parents died'."

A small smile passed over his mouth and then was gone again. "Yeah it would be."

He went quiet for a moment, his fingers curled around hers' and his thumb began tracing small circles over the top of her hand. She wanted to tell him to stop because the sensations the movement was sending up her arm were distracting, but he seemed to be doing it absentmindedly like a child stroking a blanket.

"It was a freak accident while they were setting up an exhibit at the Museum of Art in New York. They were recreating a tomb when the large stone being used as a ceiling for the tomb started to tip," his fingers tightened around hers', "I was watching and tried to warn them but they weren't listening. I think they were rather exasperated by my interruptions at that point."

He huffed a harsh laugh, " I remember being quite obnoxious that day. Normally, I…I think I was a good kid; a little too inquisitive perhaps, my curiosity occasionally got me into scrapes that freaked my mother out, but I was usually easy-going."

"That day though," he shook his head, "I was so bored; we had already been in New York almost a month and I missed home; my friends, school, my cat. I was hating New York more every day we were there. At first the whole trip was a big adventure of course, but New York in March is cold and damp and raw and all I wanted was to go home to Cairo. I still hate New York in March, it just makes all the memories of that trip too vivid."

He stopped and sighed. "So anyway I was quite sulky and whiny for the better part of that day and by the time they were wrestling with the stone I think they pretty much had enough of me, which was probably why I was sitting on the sidelines," he glanced at her, "you know, "sit here, be quiet and quit interrupting so we can concentrate'."

He dropped his gaze back to his thumb smoothing over the skin of her hand, his voice went soft and distant, "I probably shouldn't have been in New York at all, I should have been at home in Cairo, with our housekeeper, not being bored and not distracting them," he sighed, 'but one of the hazards of being a really smart kid is that adults tend to be indulgent and let you get away with more than you should, like going on their work-related trip, instead of staying in school, at home."

Vala leaned towards him covering his hand with hers. "Daniel you don't blame yourself for what happened, do you?"

He lifted sad eyes to her and shook his head. "No Vala, I don't, not anymore, but as an eight year old it was logical to think that being whiny distracted my parents enough that they didn't notice the chains around the stone were weak; which according to the report I read at the museum was the ultimate problem. The stone becoming overbalanced had very little to do with it. The chains broke, the stone came down, the corner columns followed…then," his voice caught, "there was just dust and silence."

Blinking rapidly he dropped his gaze back to their hands. She slipped her fingertips between his and squeezed gently.

"Tough to convince the eight year to forgive himself though, isn't it?" she whispered.

His head came up and he stared at her, startled by her unexpected insight.

Vala smiled tenderly in empathy. "My nine year old still thinks her behaviour might have made my mother sick."

He looked at her curiously. "And did she?"

She shook her head. "Don't think so. I remember hearing my stepmother discussing it with a neighbour once when I was about twelve. The neighbour seemed to think my mother had been sick for several months before the symptoms started to show."

"So why did you think you had anything to do with it?"

"Because she only seemed to get sick about a week after she spent too long in a rainstorm looking for me because she thought I had run away," she lifted on shoulder in a dismissive gesture, "I was kinda dramatic and a bit of a free spirit and sometimes if I got mad enough about something I would take off on my own."

He shook his head at her. "You still do."

She shrugged, dropping her gaze back to their intertwined hands. "I carried that vague guilt around with me for years."

"And now?"

She looked up, the caring in his eyes and his voice brought the sting of sudden tears. She looked away quickly.

"Not so much anymore," she glanced back to meet his eyes, "probably as much as you."

The arrival of their waitress with dessert separated them. Vala eyed the plate of golden, glistening cake-like rectangles set in front of her with interest. She shot a questioning glance at him. He smiled.

"It's called basboosa. Another childhood favourite of mine." he reached for one, "and if you don't eat your portion I will."

Vala took one and bit into the tangy, sweet cake. She grinned at him.

"I may be trying to figure out how to get your portion away from you."

He laughed, picking up the tiny cup that had arrived along with the dessert and sipped at the contents. "Not even with undomesticated equines Vala."

Laughing she took another rectangle. Idly she licked the stickiness from the cake off her fingers as she threw a quick glance at Daniel.

"So what happened afterward?"

He put the cup carefully its' saucer, as if giving himself time to collect his thoughts.

"I…I don't remember much. Child Services took custody of me until my grandfather could be located. I remember being at a brief funeral for them with my grandfather. He took me to a restaurant afterward," he paused as a wave of sadness passed over his face, "then I went back to the orphanage because he decided he couldn't take me."

Vala stared at him, incredulous. "He couldn't take you? You were just a little boy."

Daniel shrugged. "He was a well-respected and much sought after archeologist Vala and he really wasn't in a position to take custody of an eight year old. I kind of understand now."

"Yes, but Daniel you were his grandson."

"That was Nick. At the time he was heading a long-term dig in South America, was thoroughly wrapped up in it and there was no place for an eight year old there. I actually understand, I can get so caught up in my work sometimes I lose track of what people around me need too," he paused to take another piece of basboosa licking his own fingers after.

"I'm sure he thought it was in my best interests for me to be adopted by regular parents. Except most people looking to adopt want a newborn or an infant. Very few want an older child and no one who wanted an older child who'd spent most of his life in a foreign country, who could speak Arabic almost better than English and who at eight was probably as smart as they were."

He leaned back into the cushions, the tiny coffee cup cradled between his fingers.

"So until I could legally be on my own at 16 I was placed with a foster family. Some of the time it was good", he stared into what remained of his coffee, shadows passing over his face, "sometimes it wasn't."

Vala finished her last piece of basboosa, waiting quietly. He looked up a few moments later, catching her eyes with his in a steady gaze.

"Thanks." he said suddenly.

"For what?" she responded in surprise.

"For coming out with me this afternoon. It's…it's been nice."

"Hey don't thank me, you're the one who offered me something better than spending another exciting Sunday underground."

His brow creased. "Yeah, I should try to get you off base more often shouldn't I?"

"Oh don't worry about it Daniel. I've been getting out to explore your world more since I started seeing Stuart."

Daniel blinked at her. "Yeah…right, of course." he dropped his head forward and shook it slowly, "sorry, I should have realized that."

He looked up again and gave her a tight smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Well that's good isn't it, at least you're not bored anymore."

He glanced away to pick up the check the waitress had left with their dessert. Moving to the end of the bench he stood up.

"I'll pay this and then we'll go."

"Okay."

Vala watched him mount the steps and slip his shoes back on. She followed slowly after him, reluctant to end the day and trying to ignore the little voice in her head that was reminding her yet again that she was in love with a man who didn't feel the same way.


	4. Late Mar April 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be mentioned in the Authors' Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: PG at the moment. There will be 'mature' chapters but I'll post those in the appropriate section when the time comes.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'

**A/N**

This chapter references this FF story: /s/1114562/1/TheBarista

This was the first long story I read here and I loved it. The author did such a great job of 'young' Daniel that when I decided to send Daniel and Vala to buy coffee I really liked the notion that he still frequents the shop in the story.

Also please excuse my mistaken notions of AoT...when this was written the DVD hadn't been released yet and I was only making educated guesses as to how it would all pan out...so I guess I gotta say spoilers for AoT but they're not really because I was mostly wrong,lol

**Late March - April 2008**

"So far it seems to be referencing some sort of vessel," Daniel lifted his hands off the papers in front of him to make air quotes, "an 'Ark', if you will."

Cameron Mitchell regarded his teammate with disbelief.

"You mean as in Noah's?"

Daniel shook his head. "Ah no, not that kind of vessel. I meant a container more like the Ark of the Covenant the Hebrews used to carry the original stone tablets the 10 commandments were inscribed on."

"Oh, what Indy was looking for in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'?"

"Yeah, that one." Daniel responded blandly, knowing full well from the smirk twitching at Cam's mouth, the laughter Sam was hiding behind her hand and the mirth in Teal'c's eyes that his friends were trying to get a rise out of him.

It did surprise him though that Vala wasn't taking part in this particular episode of 'hassle Daniel'; she was usually one of the instigators.

At that moment she was seated at the far end of the table, silently doodling as she had been since the beginning of the briefing.

Daniel barely glanced at her as he continued speaking. He didn't need to. If they were in the same room, he knew exactly where she was, what she was doing and could almost feel her mood. Which this morning was subdued and somehow off.

"And like that Ark, this one also seems to hold great power or at least that's what the text is implying."

"Does it warrant further investigation Doctor?" General Landry asked from his usual place at the head of the conference table.

"Well it's written in Ancient and talks about vanquishing foes and given that one of the foes of the Ancients were the Ori I think it may. I'll know better when I've managed to translate more of the text. There are some characters that resemble ancient Ori and I'm having to translate based on context so it's taking me a bit longer…"

"When Doctor?" the General interrupted.

Daniel looked over at him. "Oh…hopefully by the end of the week I should be able to say what the Ark's use is and if it might be on '254'."

Landry nodded. "Fine Doctor. Now, unless someone else has something to say, I'm dismissing," he glanced as his watch," for lunch because I'm starving and I hear the roast beef is particularly good today."

He rose from his chair, as did the two Colonels under his command. They and Teal'c followed him out of the room. Leaving Daniel gathering up his notes and Vala still sitting at the end of the table doodling.

He shot a glance at her. "Vala?"

She looked up at him. "Hmmm?"

"Lunchtime. You coming?"

She dropped her pen and stood up. "Umm…yeah sure."

He stopped beside her. "You okay?"

She gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Absolutely. Just a little tired is all."

He studied her a moment, noting the flush in her cheeks and the dullness of her eyes. He laid his hand across her forehead.  
"You're kinda warm."

"You always make me warm." the seductive smirk she tried came out more as a grimace and there was no gleam in her eyes.

Daniel shook his head. "Coming from you that was pretty pathetic."

She shrugged as she walked to the door. "I said I was tired."

He followed her into the corridor. They were almost at the commissary before she said anything else.

"Actually, I am very tired Daniel, would you object if I played nooky for the afternoon so I could go back to bed?"

He didn't answer instantly. While he recognized that she was using the wrong word, part of his brain was associating Vala, nooky and bed. It took him a moment to get past that.  
"Umm, I think you mean 'play hooky' and yeah that's fine, you are looking pretty rough."

She shot a glare at him. "Thank you Daniel, always so complimentary."

"Vala…"

She flounced away down the corridor before he could finish. Shaking his head he followed, but didn't really catch up until he arrived at the table with his lunch, in time to see her reaction to Cam's plateful of gelatinous looking macaroni and cheese. Her face suddenly went white, her eyes widened in panic and she raced from the room. Daniel put his tray down with a sigh and turned to follow her.

Sam put her hand on his arm as she stood. "I should probably go."

Samantha pushed open the door of the women's washroom, almost running into a SF on her way out. It wasn't even necessary to ask a question, the SF simply jerked her thumb back over her shoulder. Vala was standing in front of one of the sinks throwing water on her face.

"You okay?" Sam asked, leaning back against the sink beside her.

"No," she mumbled past her hands on her face, "I feel absolutely wretched. I'm tired, my bones ache, my head is spinning, I wanna throw-up and my throat hurts," she reached for paper towels.

"Hmm…sounds like you should be in bed."

"I was going there after lunch."

"Tell ya what, go there now and I'll get Carolyn to come take a look at you. If you've got what I think you do, I doubt she'd want it in the infirmary."

Vala stared at her teammate in horror.

"What I've got? I won't die from it will I?"

Sam chuckled. "No Vala you won't die. It's probably just a 'flu."

**After lunch**

Daniel came to a stop outside Vala's door as Carolyn Lam was pulling it closed.  
"How's she doing?"

"Oh rather rough at the moment," the doctor looked up at him, "but she should be fine by the end of the week."

"The 'flu?"

"Not sure yet."

"She had her 'flu shot last fall."

"Yes I know Daniel, I gave it to her remember, and you should remember the shots don't cover all the strains. This really doesn't surprise me, she's getting out in public more so she's being exposed to more. I am a bit though concerned that her throat is inflamed, so I did a swab for 'strep' and I should have those results tomorrow. In the meantime, I think she'd be happier staying in her own room, so," she handed him the key card, "I'm leaving you guys to look after her. You all know the drill…liquids, Advil and rest. If it's 'strep' then I'll start antibiotics, if not then she should be fine by the end of the week."

The doctor eyed Daniel, noting the crease of concern between his eyes. "You know that."

He smiled faintly and nodded. "Yeah I do. Thanks Carolyn."

Patting his arm, she turned to go. "No problem. See you later."

He slid the card through the lock, then knocked on the door. Receiving no answer he eased into the room. The only light was a single bedside lamp. Vala was curled on her side facing away from the light. Daniel sat down beside her.

"Hey." he said softly.

One blue-grey eye fluttered open and she sneezed violently.

He pushed a hank of hair back from her face. "Feeling pretty lousy huh?"

"Brilliant Daniel." she rasped.

He stifled a small smile. Genuine Vala made him happy, even if she was sick and cranky.

"Oh so you're gonna be that kinda patient are you?"

"Go away." was her muttered response.

" I will, but I wanted to see if you needed anything before I go back to work."

"No, just wanna sleep."  
"Okay grumpy, I'm going.

Getting no further comment, he stood, leaning down to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Call me if you need something."

A faint sound of agreement, muffled by a pillow, was all he got as he headed for the door.

**April 2008**

"Vala? Uh…whatya doing?"

She looked up from her spot on the floor, her gaze traveling up the long legs encased in blue BDU pants, over the trim, taut torso she knew was hidden under a black t-shirt and the jacket that matched the pants, to meet his clear blue eyes.

"Oh hi. I was," she twisted herself around in place, trying to stand.

Daniel moved into the room, holding out his hand. She slipped hers into his familiar callused one and pushed herself to her feet.

"Thanks," she flashed a quick smile, "I was helping Cameron…"

"He knows you're messing around in his files then?"

She gave Daniel a brief look of offense.

"Yes of course he does. I did such a brilliant job reorganizing your filing that he asked me to do his too," she paused to brush dirt off her knees, "and this is the first time in two weeks that my brain has felt like doing this."

"So you're feeling better?"

She smiled happily. "Yes darling, almost back to my usual scintillating self."

He pressed his mouth into a straight line in an effort to not give away that it made him happy to see her back to normal. He may have liked knowing, that while she was sick she was always her true self, but he didn't like seeing her miserable and he'd missed her sparkle.

"Well if your scintillating self feels up to coming into town later I've got some errands to run…"

He didn't even get to finish the sentence.

"Oh Daniel," she squealed, flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him, "thank you, thank you. I need some stuff too and I was going to request a driver, but I'd much rather come with you."

Reluctantly he took her arms from around his neck and took a step back from her. It was too tempting to keep her body pressed against his a little longer.

He smiled. "You're welcome…so we'll go after lunch okay?"

The April afternoon was sunny, but a biting breeze still felt like winter.

"So where to?" Vala asked, clicking her seatbelt into place.

"Ah, the Citadel mall first, I think. I need toothpaste and that kinda stuff," he raised a hand to the guard as they passed through the gate, "and I need new jeans and some sort of new shelving for the pile of books I kicked over on the floor last night, oh and coffee, but we'll do that downtown after we're done at the mall."

He glanced at her as he made the turn onto the road into the city. "That okay for you?"

"Yup. I just needed stuff like toothpaste too," she leaned forward to flick the radio on, "I'd like to find a plant for my coffee mugs too but I don't know where to look."

"Foley's probably has a plant department."

"Oh! Okay, that works."

She turned up the volume for "Lucy in the Sky" on the oldies station and sang along. Almost 10 minutes and 4 stations later Daniel was suffering from radio station whiplash.

"Vala, just pick a station and stay there, please. I swear sometimes you've got the attention span of a gnat."

"Fine," she grimaced at him pressing the scan button again.

The receiver settled on the next station and a rich, haunting melody filled the air.

"What's this instrument?" she asked suddenly breaking the peace that had settled over them.

"Hmm?" Daniel responded, rousing himself from the vague impression of spending evenings listening to the same music with Vala nestled in his arms.

"Not sure," his brow creased in thought while he concentrated on the sound that was not as high pitched as a violin nor as low as a bass, "a viola or maybe a cello. Why?"

She shrugged, without opening her eyes, "Just curious. I don't usually listen to this kind of music, but I know this piece for some reason."

She opened her eyes then and looked over at him. Quiet, honourable, steadfast, and familiar. He'd become her anchor in the turmoil of the last two years. Being allowed to create a life for herself in his world was a gift she was thankful for everyday. He moved his head slightly, flicking a glance at her. Blue eyes met gray. In the space of a moment Vala caught a glimpse of a tenderness in his eyes she had never seen before. He turned his gaze back to the road and the moment was gone. With a profound sense of calm settling over her she realized that the idea of finding the same contentment with anyone else was a delusion.

The mall was relatively quiet, which wasn't surprising for a Tuesday afternoon. From the beginning, Vala had been fascinated with the Earth concept of an indoor marketplace. She loved being able to wander around unaffected by the weather. The thought did occur though that it being enclosed and patrolled by security guards did make liberating merchandise without payment into an art form. Not that she'd consider liberating merchandise without paying anymore. She had no reason to. For the first time in her life she was being paid for respected, satisfying work with people who had given her chance to be something beyond her past and whose trust she'd earned. She was safe, warm, dry and she knew where her next meal was coming from. She wasn't about to screw up the life that satisfied all her wants and needs.

Daniel's hand grazed the small of her back, steering her in the direction of Foley's department store. She flicked a glance at him. Well, all of her wants except the ones that involved him.

They parted company at the men's department as Daniel went in search of jeans. He found her again, as agreed, half an hour later. She was studying a mannequin on the outside edge of the ladies department across the aisle from the men's when he emerged with his jeans and a new shirt.

She was so intent on the dress the mannequin was displaying that she didn't even look at him.

"Done?"

"Yeah," he answered, also now studying the dress.

"Hope they fit well." she slanted a sly look at him.

"They fit comfortably."

"Too bad," she sighed dramatically, "guess that means they won't be reminding me it was a truly fine ass I kicked."

"Sorry to disappoint." he responded blandly.

Vala glanced up at him with a slight smirk. "No, you're not."

"Ahhh," he started, then shrugged and returned her smirk, "No, you're right, I'm not."

Laughing softly she turned her attention back to the mannequin.

He moved his bag to the hand closest to her to keep himself from putting his arm around her shoulder and hugging her. He had missed her laughter.

"Do you like that?" she asked suddenly, indicating the mannequin.

He cocked his head to one side and pursed his lips as if he was only just noticing the dress. The fact that he had been imagining the dress on her since the moment he laid his eyes on it was not something she needed to know.

"Uhunh."

"Really?"

"Sure. Don't you?"

She nodded slowly. "I like the colour and the fabric, but the style is kinda bland. Needs a lower neckline don't you think?"

"Nope. It's classy and understated the way it is. Less is more ya know."

"My thoughts exactly Daniel; less of that neckline would be more alluring."

He shook his head firmly. "No Vala, less blatant is more enticing."

"So you find this dress appealing?"

"Uhunh." he replied, ending the conversation by turning to walk away.

The image of her in the pale blue dress, dark hair cascading over her shoulders, long legs accented by high heels was vivid enough in his brain, he didn't need to be reinforcing it.

She didn't immediately follow him to the furniture department. He wasn't concerned at first, but when she still hadn't joined him by the time he'd found the item he was seeking, worry began to set in. She finally appeared at his elbow as he was paying for a small do-it-yourself bookcase.

He glanced down at her. "Hey there. Was beginning to think I'd lost you. Where were you?"

Their eyes met briefly, an unspoken 'you scared me, don't do that again.' passed between them.

She patted his arm. "Sorry. I remembered a couple of things I wanted here," she gestured with the store bags now in her hand. "You should be impressed though at how quickly I found you."

Nodding in reply, he handed his credit card to the cashier. Vala examined the plastic-wrapped bundle on the counter.

She looked up at him. "You sure you don't want to get one already assembled? What if Samantha's not available to put it together for you."

He bent his head to sign the credit card slip.

"Funny Vala, but I'm pretty sure I can handle it myself." he handed the pen and the slip back to the cashier.

"I dunno Daniel, I seem to recall watching you and Cameron struggle with a similar one when he was moving…I believe Samantha finally took pity on you and finished it."

He could tell, as he took the bag from her, that the cashier was having a hard time keeping a straight face. He gave her a tight smile and a 'thank you' as they turned to leave.

"Yeah well, Sam was sober, Mitchell and I weren't and neither were you for that matter."

"True, but I wasn't the one thinking I could assemble a bookcase in that state."

She slanted a look full of mirth at him. He couldn't help smiling back at her.

"C'mon," he shifted both bags into one hand, grasping her arm with the other one to propel her back the way they'd come.

"Now that we've entertained the young lady," he shot a glance over his shoulder at the cashier, who was now openly laughing at them, "for the afternoon, I think we'll go get my coffee."

The rich aroma of coffee brewing greeted them when they stepped through the door. A bell overhead jingled. The barista at the counter, already serving several people ahead of them, glanced over. Pleased recognition flickered in his eyes, a small smile turned up the corners of his mouth. Daniel returned the smile with a nod as he took a place in line behind four other customers. He glanced around the shop to locate Vala who'd immediately disappeared from his side as they entered the shop. He caught sight of her perusing a large display of coffeemakers and hand crafted mugs. He watched her strolling around, then stopping at the small display case of baked goods. She looked up, catching his eye. He knew what she was going to say even before she bounced over to him with a bright smile.

"Could we stay for a snack?"

He favoured her with an indulgent smile, pleased by another sign that she was almost back to normal, her appetite had returned.

"Sure. I was thinking the same thing actually. Wha'd ya want?"

"Hmm…definitely one of those yummy pastries with the cream filling."

"Which would be?"

"Oh you know," she gestured in the direction of the case, "the ones with the vague phallic shape and chocolate on top."

Peripheral vision told him that the other customers had heard her, as had the barista judging by the smirk twitching at his mouth. Daniel gave her what he hoped was a reproving look over the top of his glasses. He couldn't really get mad when he knew she wasn't trying to get a rise out of him.

"I think you mean an éclair."

She nodded emphatically. "Yes that's it…an éclair and," she paused, shrugging, "oh I don't know what else, surprise me."

She patted his arm and gestured with her head toward the collection of table and chairs at the rear of the shop

"I'm gonna take a seat back there, I'm a little tired from walking earlier."

He acknowledged her remark with a nod as she turned away.

Vala took a seat, as per standard operating procedure, with her back to the wall at a table in the corner. She shrugged out of her coat and allowed herself to indulge in a pastime she couldn't get away with much. Archaeologist ogling.

In the life she'd previously led she'd come in contact with her fair share of scholars and scientists. They'd all been as earnest and serious about their work as the one she was currently gazing at. That was where the resemblance ended. Tall, with the build of a warrior he had physically excited her from the start. Now, knowing that his hardened soldier's body housed a brilliant mind and a kind, honest spirit, she was captivated by him; heart, mind and soul. No one else would ever measure up.

The motion of Daniel turning away from the counter roused her. It took her a moment to realize the man serving at the counter was watching him the same way she'd been a moment earlier. She caught the man's eye while Daniel was setting the tray on the table, he grinned at her and winked. She couldn't stop a smirk tugging at her mouth as her companion took a seat at a ninety-degree angle from her, his back against the other wall of the corner. He glanced at her as he put the éclair and a large, shallow cup heaped with generous amount of whipped cream in front of her.

His eyebrows went up at the expression on her face. "What?"

"Do you know the man at the counter?" she picked up the cup and tasted rich hot chocolate under the whipped cream.

His blue eyes flicked briefly to the counter and then back to the sugar he was adding to his coffee.

"Uhhh, yeah I do actually. Why?"

Vala picked up her éclair, scooping up with her finger the cream filling that was oozing out of it.

"I think he's got a thing for you."

He sighed with a grimace. "Yeah, so I've heard."

She noted the distaste on his face. "So I take it his interest isn't returned?"

Daniel gave her a look sharp. "You're kidding right?"

She shrugged. "Sort of, but let's face it Daniel, your preference isn't easily discernible. In the whole time I've been here I've never seen you show interest in any female and I have heard faint rumours about how close you and Jack were."

Daniel's jaw tightened in annoyance. Despite Jack being gone from the base for more than two years, those vague mutterings still surfaced every once in a while.

He shook his head with another grimace. "C'mon Vala. Besides the fact that you know Jack and Sam are involved, you also know I was very happily married for a year."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything Daniel. I've known a number of devoted family men who also enjoyed relations with their own sex."

Daniel stared at her, wanting to be angry about the conversation but he couldn't. He knew it was his own fault. He'd done too good a job of hiding his own purely male interest in her. He wondered briefly how she'd react if he told her just how much her method of eating the éclair was distracting him. His shook his head to erase the notion of telling her just to prove himself and to disagree with her statement.

"Well, I wouldn't be one of them and neither would Jack." he said tersely, tearing off a piece of his chocolate croissant.

"So, who told you?" she asked after a minute.

"Ahhh, a co-worker of his," he exhaled a laugh, " and of course Jack has taken great delight in pointing it out over the years."

"Years? You've been coming here that long?"

Daniel took a swallow of coffee. "Uh yeah. Pretty much since I joined the program. Stefan wasn't the manager at the time, he was just regular counter service as was my friend Kira, who was the co-worker that pointed out Stefan's…um…interest in me."

"So were you interested in her?"

He shook his head, tearing off another piece of croissant. "No, not like that. The whole focus of my life at that point was getting Shau'ri back and after what I'd been through Kira seemed awfully young. We did become good friends though. She was studying the same things in college that I had so we had a lot in common. She was top of her class and had a real talent for linguistics so I was allowed to hire her for a summer," he wiped traces of chocolate and pastry flakes off his hands, "then the whole Kelowna ascension thing happened just days before she was supposed to start. By the time I came back to the base she was long gone to study in Europe."

He sat back in his chair with sigh. "Probably just as well in the long run…I would've hated to have hurt her because I didn't remember her," his voice went soft, "you have no idea how hard it was piecing myself back together again."

He suddenly realized she was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Then he realized who he was talking to. Along with all the other life experiences he was discovering they had in common he had momentarily forgotten that she had also struggled with memories. He dropped his head forward, shaking it slowly at his own stupidity. He raised his eyes to her with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry, that was unthinking. If anyone would understand putting memories back together it would be you wouldn't it."

Shrugging with what he could only describe as a shy smile she dropped her gaze, lapsing into silence while she finished the last of her éclair. He picked up his mug, sat back in his chair and waited.

When the length of her silence was beginning to make him wonder how much he'd really hurt her feelings he leaned forward, setting his now empty cup on the table.

"Hey," he laid his hand on her wrist, waiting until she looked at him before continuing, "penny for your thoughts?"

A sudden brilliant smile wiped away her previous pensive expression.

"Actually Daniel, I think," she tapped his hand with her finger, "this thought will be worth almost a dollar."

He sighed. Her lighting fast changes in mood didn't leave him stumbling to keep up anymore, just a little breathless.

"And that would be?"

She leaned towards him, looking directly into his eyes.

"Well, I was sitting here thinking about recovering memories when I suddenly remembered something from Ver Isca."

"Oh?" he asked warily.

Reminders of her time there always made his insides prickle with guilt over his role in her ending up there.

She nodded eagerly. "You asked me the other day about a line of Ori text from the writings from '254' and at the time it seemed familiar but I couldn't place it. But," she grinned at him, "now I can."

"And…" he prompted with a rolling hand gesture.

"It's a rather obscure piece from the Book of Origin."

She raised a silencing finger at him even before he could say anything.

"Yes Daniel, I know you've the read it from cover to cover, but after doing 6 hours of prostration every day for almost a year I've read that particular book more than once."

He leaned closer, eager now himself.

"So?"

"Well I'm unsure of the whole line but there's a sequence of characters that I think would translate to the English word 'persuasion'."

He frowned. "That's it 'persuasion'?"

"Yes, but with a connotation of 'under-handed' or 'covert' to it."

His frown deepened. " 'Covert persuasion'…so persuasion that one didn't know was happening," his frown disappeared and his eyes widened, "like brainwashing? So this 'ark' has something to do with brainwashing?"

She grinned at him. "So worth more than a penny?"

He matched her grin. "Absolutely and probably worth a visit to '254'."

He stood up, grabbing his leather jacket off the back of the chair

"C'mon, we'll get the rest of our stuff at the drugstore down the street then go back to analyze that text some more, maybe this 'ark' is actually on '254'."

**Late April 2008**

"Hey Vala," Sam took a seat on the rock beside her teammate, "kinda surprised to see you doing this."

The dark haired woman shrugged. "Yes well, Daniel was getting cranky, kept saying that I was distracting him. How, I don't know…"

Sam glanced at her. Like the rest of them in the heat of the afternoon she had shed her standard BDU jacket in favour of just the sleeveless tank top she wore under it. With her hair in braids and patches of perspiration sticking the tank top to the curves of her torso she was a beguiling mixture of child and woman.

Sam took a slug of water, hiding a smirk and a mumbled "yes I'm sure you were" behind her canteen.

Vala, intent on measuring coffee into the camp coffeepot, didn't hear the comment.

"…I wasn't doing anything different than I was this morning, but I figured instead of staying there until we got into an argument I'd come and do this. I think I needed to come out here where it's cooler anyway."

She shot a look at her blonde friend. "I worry about him working in this conditions."

Sam shrugged, leaning down to undo her boots. "He's used to it. He doesn't always pay attention to his limitations in other conditions, but in heat, he does," with a grunt, she toed off her boots, "I would imagine he'll be calling it quits for the day shortly."

She pulled off her socks as she watched Vala sort out their individual mess kits from where they were left to dry after lunch. The blond flexed her feet and toes, enjoying the feeling of freedom after having them encased in boots all day long. Idly she stared at her toes, noting she needed a pedicure.

"Meant to mention that I had a nice chat with Stu the other day."

Vala paused while matching cutlery sets with mugs to give Sam a brief smile.

"Oh did you? How is he? How's Hanna?"

Sam studied her friend. "They're both fine. Concerned about you though. Stu said he hasn't heard from you since you cancelled a date when you got sick."

Vala nodded as she assembled a sterno burner. "Right."

Sam leaned towards her "Vala that was three weeks ago. You should call him."

She looked up at Sam again with a bright smile. "Right, definitely when we get home tomorrow."

Samantha watched Vala light the burner. "Good, I'm sure he'd appreciate that. He'd probably also appreciate you telling him truth too."

Vala settled the coffeepot on the burner. "About what?"

"Daniel."

The former space pirate sat back on the rock she'd been perched on earlier and sighed. She didn't even try to evade the issue.

"I was going to then I got sick and since I've just lost my nerve. I hate to hurt him like that Sam. He's lost his wife so recently. I…I just don't feel the same spark that he seems to. And I hate to do that to Hanna too. She and I'd gotten quite close," Vala's voice dropped, "I'll miss her."

Vala went quiet, staring off into space.

Sam started putting her socks and boots back on.

"And when are you going to tell Daniel the truth?"

Vala looked over at Sam in disbelief. "Never. He doesn't need to know. He carries around enough guilt. The last thing he needs is a new load from me because he doesn't feel the same way. It would make everything so awkward between us. I'm afraid it might even destroy the friendship we have managed to establish."

She dropped her gaze to the ground, scuffing at the dirt with her boot.

"And I can't bear the thought of that. To have his friendship and trust is more important to me than anything else," she finished quietly.

"And that'll be enough?"

Vala looked up at the closest female friend she had ever had and nodded.

"Yes. After the life I've lead to be given the chance to build a safe and somewhat normal life among you is way more than I deserve. I won't jeopardize that for anything, 'specially something as fleeting as physical attraction."

With a soft chuff of laughter she got up to check on the coffee. "It's kinda relief actually, to not always have to play the ready and willing good time girl."

Vala poured coffee into Sam's mug and handed it to her, effectively bringing the topic to an end. "Is this done?"

Sam sampled it and nodded. "It is," then she nodded back over her friend's shoulder, "Good timing too."

Vala turned. Their three companions were meandering towards them from different directions; Mitchell and Teal'c returning from patrol and Daniel managing to negotiate the rocky path under his feet while flipping through his notes.  
Vala shook her head. "How does he do that without tripping?"

Sam chuckled. "Been wondering that myself for years."

The heat of the afternoon cooled into evening. After food and individual opportunities to wash off the sweat and grime of the day in a nearby lake, the five settled around a fire. An uneventful recon mission on a planet uninhabited by anything other than wildlife with most of her family was a welcome respite from their usual expeditions. Sighing, Sam leaned back against the rock behind her sipping at her coffee, the banter and conversation from the other four drifting over her. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Daniel and Vala seated just to her left. She wasn't sure when it'd started but more and more she was noticing a new level of easiness between them. Mostly it was coming from Daniel. His manner of speaking to Vala had lost the sharpness and impatience of the past. His gaze seemed to settle and linger on her often. There were even some moments when the intimate affection in his eyes made Sam feel that she was intruding on something meant for the bedroom. Moments like now, when he couldn't seem to take his eyes off the former space pirate while she brushed out her hair as it dried in the heat from the fire. Sam couldn't understand why Vala wasn't seeing the obvious desire on his face that Sam was seeing.

A movement from the other side of the fire drew her attention to Teal'c. He too was focused on their friends. She wasn't sure what to make of the smile of pleased amusement on his usually impassive face. His eyes suddenly slid to hers. She slanted a look at Daniel and Vala, then looked back at Teal'c with a raised eyebrow. There was no need to verbalize the question, Teal'c understood instantly. His soft smile deepened and he nodded.

Evening became night, the fire burned down, conversation became sporadic, people began to yawn and rotation for night watch was arranged. With five people to take turns during an 8-9 hour night, one person always got a night off. This night was Sam's. With the prospect of a full, uninterrupted night sleep ahead of her, she chose to linger at the fire with Teal'c who had first watch.

He added more wood to the fire and sat down beside her. They exchanged a few words while they watched the others bed down, but mostly Sam was fascinated by what was happening in front of her.

"Have they always done that?" she asked without looking at her companion.

"To what do you refer Samantha?"

Sam shot a startled look at him. Even four months after their little vacation on the Odyssey she still wasn't used to him addressing her with just her first name when the team was alone.

She gave her head a shake as if to clear away her surprise.

"Daniel and Vala. Have they always chosen the sides of their tents closest to the other?"

"I do not know, I have only noticed it recently myself."

There was a comfortable silence for a few moments before Sam spoke again. In light of their earlier unspoken question and answer she knew her words needed no explanation.

"He seems on the edge."

"Indeed."

"She thinks he's not interested…how can she not see it?

"Perhaps because she is looking at him the same way."

Sam shook her head. "Now, that makes no sense."

"Perhaps not, but you and O'Neill did the same thing for several years before you understood what you both were seeing."

She laughed softly. "Good point."

They lapsed into silence for several minutes.

"I am going to do a patrol of our perimeter. Could you tend the fire while I am gone?" he said rising to his feet.

She looked up at him. "Sure."

He nodded, picked up his P-90 and disappeared into the darkness.

The team broke camp after a dawn breakfast. It was a five to six kilometer hike back to the 'gate. They preferred to not be doing it during the greatest heat of the day. It had been a hot, dusty although relaxing mission, but they were all ready to go home. Close to the planet's mid-day they took the step that transported them from the hot, deserted planet to the familiar environs of the 'gate room in Cheyenne Mountain. General Landry's voice was the first thing they heard over the sound of the metal grating under their feet.

"Welcome home SG-1. Nice to see everyone healthy and in one piece."

"Thank you Sir," Mitchell responded, stepping off the ramp, "Good to be back, although spending another day on that planet would have satisfied my vacation needs for awhile."

Landry chuckled, "Well even you five deserve an uneventful mission occasionally. I just hoped it proved useful. Doctor?"

Daniel looked up from where he and Vala had been carefully guiding their cart of supplies off the ramp.

"Ah yes Sir," he passed the remote control for the FRED to a waiting SF, "I do have a 'gate address," he glanced at Vala as she handed him his pack, "Unfortunately I think it's in the Ori galaxy."


	5. May 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: PG at the moment. There will be 'mature' chapters but I'll post those in the appropriate section when the time comes.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:** 1-2ish weeks after the events of AoT.

I'd just like to take a moment to express my delight over all your lovely reviews and obvious liking for my work. Thank you all very much. I apologize for not responding to everyone individually this past week, but this has a been a particularly busy week...birthdays, end of school, graduations...and last but not least...TOO MANY people in my house now, and for the rest of the summer I guess, who aren't going to bed at 10pm.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll all find this chapter quite satisfying.

Enjoy

**Saturday May 2008**

A flick of the switch turned on all the lights, the individual spotlights attached to the top shelves of the bookcases, the desk lamps with built-in magnifiers positioned at each end of the workbench and the large lamp hanging over his desk. Despite carrying three books, of which the top one he was reading, and a half-full mug of coffee, Daniel moved through his office with unerring steps. After working in the same space for almost eleven years there wasn't an inch of it that he didn't know in minute detail. It only changed if he added something and as nothing had been added in the last hour since he'd gone to the base library then he could move around without actually paying attention to anything. He glanced at his watch as he set the books on the workbench. _Make that three hours since he went to the base library. _Now, he had barely an hour and a half to shower, change, find Vala and pick up the pizzas on the way over to Mitchell's.

He sat down at his desk. A small piece of folded paper tucked into the rows of the keyboard caught his eye. He was wrong; one thing had been added. His mouth curved up into a soft smile of affection. Vala. Being the one who had shown her the rudiments of English handwriting he was the only she left handwritten notes too. He paused before picking up the note to power down his computer for the weekend. Leaning back in his chair to finish his coffee while computer system went through its shutdown procedures, he mused about his space pirate.

Space pirate. It had been awhile since he'd thought of her like that. She had come such a long way since he'd first encountered that persona. Everyday he was proud of her, of the effort she had put into moving beyond being a thief and con artist to create a home on Earth with them…with him. She was still a chameleon, switching personas as needed to keep people from getting too close. He knew that. He was also almost certain now, that the woman she was presenting to him when they were alone was her genuine self, and he just couldn't resist her. Didn't feel the need to anymore. Her choice to stay on Earth rather than return to Ver Isca with Tomin said everything Daniel need to hear about where she considered home. In light of that he was willing now to take the chance with her, to move forward into something more. Tonight, after he brought her back to the base from Cam's, he'd make plans to see her later in the weekend…and actually call it a date. Exhaling a small pleased sigh of satisfaction he put down his now-empty mug and picked the note out of the keyboard. He flipped it open.

In the moment it took to scan the contents, his face hardened into a scowl. The piece of paper in one hand crumpling into his clenching fist, he jabbed the 'off' button on the monitor as he rose from his chair. Absent-mindedly moving things, and putting other things away, he moved through the office with the agitated motions of barely-controlled anger.

Sam's voice unexpectedly behind him as he paused in the hall to lock the office door made him jump.

"Oh good you're still here. I can't find Vala. Did she mention any movie preference for tonight?"

He pulled the door shut with a bang.

"Doesn't matter Sam, she won't be joining us."

"Oh? Is she feeling okay?"

He swiped his card through the lock.

"I would imagine she's fine," he jammed the card into his back pocket as he turned to go, "but apparently she has a date."

**Sunday morning **

Vala stopped in the door, surprised by the presence of the room's usual occupant.

"Oh! Hello. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

Daniel glanced up from the aerial photo he was marking on.

"Why? It's my office." he replied testily, returning his attention back to the photo.

She moved across the room to the extra computer she used.

"Well yes Daniel, I know that. I just figured you'd be home recovering from last night."

"Recovering from what? I spent last night watching movies and having a few beers with my friends. I could say the same thing to you…surprised that you're even back from wherever you were last night."

"Well I did kinda want to sleep so I thought it might be a good idea to come back to my bed to do so."

"Right of course because you weren't likely to be getting any sleep in some other bed." he muttered.

Vala turned around to stare at him trying to decipher just what they were talking about. Her comment about sleeping in her own bed had been facetious. His obviously wasn't.

She squinted at him. "What other bed would I be likely to sleep in?"

He looked up, pinning her with cold, hard eyes. "I don't know Vala. You tell me."

Putting her hands on her hips, she glared at him. "What, Daniel, is your problem?"

"My problem, Vala?" he gestured at himself, "my problem is you."

Snapping the lid back on his marker, he tossed it to the tabletop as he turned away to pace the length of the workbench.

"You…you come barreling into my life, steal my ship, take me hostage, beat me up, lie to me constantly, make me the brunt of your incessant sexual jokes, literally take me hostage a second time in your pursuit of treasure, almost get me killed so many times I've lost count and just," he flung his hands out in gesture of exasperation as he stopped at one end of the table, "just when I think you're nothing more than a liar and a thief you confound me completely by actually doing the right thing on Azdak's planet and then when you sacrificed yourself at the first Supergate…I just didn't…"he trailed off shaking his head.

Sighing he retraced his path to the opposite end of the table. "You confuse me,…you drive me crazy…I just…I have no idea what you want from me," he paced back to the end of table farthest from her, his back to her and stopped.

His hand dropped to the tabletop. "but you make _me_ want what I haven't had since," his head slumped forward, his voice softening, "since Abydos."

He raised his head again, gazing unfocused on the bookshelves in front of him. "Now,

after we've been working together for nearly two years, which in itself amazes me when I consider where this started; when we've finally learned to respect each other abilities and to trust the other with our lives, when I've actually reached a point where I think we could make a relationship work, you," he took another deep breath and all the anger seemed to drain out of him, "you blow me off for another guy."

He shook his head in weariness and defeat. "I'm done Vala. I'm tired of your games, of being your source of amusement until someone more interesting comes along. I'm tired of you messing with me."

There was complete and utter silence for several long moments. It took him that long to realize that she hadn't said anything during his entire diatribe. He turned to face her. The tears coursing down her cheeks annoyed and confused him.

"Crocodile tears Vala?" he scowled, "give me a break. You're still trying to play me. Enough!"

His scowl deepened over her continuing silence and her unexpected, slightly unsteady movement across the room to him. She stopped inches from him, and looked up at him, grey eyes shimmering with tears. She shook her head.

"I'm not messing with you Daniel, she choked, shaking her head harder, "I've never been playing."

Daniel stared down at her in complete bafflement. He didn't know whether to push her away completely so he could stop being the jackass to her carrot or to take everything she was currently saying and doing at face value, wrap his arms around her and not let go. Ever.

He settled for pulling out the note he'd shoved in his pants pocket the night before.

"Did you mean what you wrote?" fear and hope made his voice unsure.

Her brow creased in puzzlement. He handed her the paper. She took a step back from him, flipped the note open and scanned it, focusing finally on what, in her hurry, she'd scrawled at the bottom of the page.

'_love you, V'. _

"I…I didn't realize…" she whispered, "I was in a hurry…"she trailed off.

He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. "But did you mean it?"

She paused, dropping her gaze to the middle of his chest..

"Please Vala, no evasions…do you mean it?" he whispered hoarsely.

Her bottom lip caught between her teeth, she tilted a hesitant look at him from under her lashes and nodded.

Daniel let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

"Then why!…why were you with someone else last night? You don't get to do that Vala…tell me you love me and then go out with another man."

She looked at him with a faint frown. "I was honouring a commitment, Daniel. You of all people would expect me to do that."

He expelled a short laugh. "Vala, a prior commitment to man would be inferred as a date. If this," he motioned with the folded up note she had given back to him, "is how you really feel, then I, obviously, would be the last person to expect you to honour that sort of commitment to someone else."

She shook her head. "It wasn't a date. I made promise to his daughter Hanna."

Daniel stared at her. "His…his daughter?"

Biting her lip, she slanted an almost shy look up at him. "Mmmhhmm."

She dropped her gaze again to focus somewhere in the middle of his chest.

"She was in a play and I promised her I'd be there for opening night. With everything that's gone on in the last few weeks I'd completely forgotten until Stuart called last night as he was leaving his place to pick me up. I didn't have time to find you to explain properly so I left the note."

She shook her head. "I couldn't let her down Daniel," her voice softened, "she misses her mother."

She lifted one shoulder in small shrug. "For a little while I tried to fill that void, and for a little while," her voice wavered, "I had a daughter."

In a flash all of Daniel's fears were suddenly irrelevant, smothered by the simple understanding that she was seeking the daughter that had been stolen from her. Driven by the need to comfort and care for her, he pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her as fresh tears ran down her face.

"You know," he said softly after a few moments, "there's no reason you couldn't continue to spend time with her."

She shook her head, "No Daniel, I can't. She wants her family back. I don't want to encourage her to live in the hope that her father and I would have a future. I would imagine it'd be like losing a mother a second time when she finally had to accept the truth. I don't want to cause that hurt."

Daniel cupped her face in his hands, tilting her gaze directly up to meet his. Tenderly wiping away the last of her tears with his thumbs, he studied her. Under all her brash, sarcastic, sexual facades, she was kind and genuinely caring. His girl.

Daniel's gaze flickered from her eyes to her mouth. He trailed his thumb trail down across her cheek to skim lightly over the soft lushness of her mouth. His hand went back to cradle her face and he leaned down to touch his lips to hers. Gently, tenderly, he tasted her. He pulled away after a few moments. She opened her eyes and smiled at him with open, blissful love. It was all he needed to see. This was right. He drew his thumb over the delicate skin of her cheek and smiled back.

"I love you Vala, " he whispered, "very much."

Her entire face lit up. She flung her arms around his neck, pressed her body against him and her mouth to his, urgent and passionate. Daniel's balance swayed a bit under her onslaught. He braced himself against the counter behind him, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight to him. The joyful kiss became a series of quick, arousing caresses which shifted into a slow, deep exploration of each other that quickly involved roaming hands.

The PA crackled, summoning Colonel Reynolds to the 'gate room. They broke apart, leaning foreheads together.

"Definitely not the time or place." Daniel breathed heavily.

Vala grinned wickedly. "Well then I suggest we find another place because it's definitely time."

He straightened slightly, shaking his head as he moved it away from hers.

She squinted at him in disbelief.  
"Daniel." she whined, sliding her hand between them, splaying her fingers around his developing state of arousal. She ran her palm over him. His breathing hitched.

"You can't tell me you don't want this." she purred, pressing her hand firmly against him.

He pulled her hand away. "I didn't say that, but I can't go from being ready to push you away permanently to taking you home and falling into bed together in less than an hour. I can't make that much of an emotional leap that fast."

Vala took a step back from him, shaking her head in mild irritation.

"Do you ever just let it go? Just let yourself give into the moment?"

He moved away from the counter and closed the space between them to touch her cheek with gentle fingers.  
"Not when it's so important to get this right."

He curled a finger under her chin to bring her gaze directly in line with his.  
"Just give me little time to catch my breath. Please?"

Vala sighed. "Very well. Just don't make us wait too long or," she tapped his chest, "I'll be forced to use these delightful fur-lined handcuffs I have."

"Fur-lined handcuffs? Vala why on earth would you," he stopped abruptly, then waved his hands in front of his face to negate the sudden, inexplicable image he had of her in a hot pink negligee with a pair of handcuffs lined in pink fur dangling from her fingers, "never mind, never mind. I really don't need to be thinking right now about what you'd be doing with fur-lined handcuffs."

Vala laughed, a low, dirty sound that made his groin twitch. "Well if you don't want to think about it, perhaps I could show you instead.."

"Umm…no." he said with a tight smile, putting his hands on her shoulders and turning her back towards the computer on the other side of the room where she'd started out.

"How 'bout instead we both finish what we were doing, get lunch and then find something to do for the afternoon," he tapped a finger against her shoulder to stop the suggestion he knew she was going to make, "and since I've already said no to that, a movie would be a better idea."

She shot a brilliant smile at him over her shoulder. "Ohh…you mean like a real date."

It was Daniel's turn to laugh.

"Vala," he said, curving his arm around her shoulder as he steered her back to her computer, "we've been casually dating for the last two months."

She stopped at her desk, looking at him with shocked grey eyes.

"But we haven't done anything special."

"It didn't have to be special Vala, it just had to be us spending time together, alone, outside of work, figuring out if we have a future."

Her expression became still and serious.  
"And do we?" she asked quietly.

He gave her one of the softest smiles she had ever seen and touched her cheek.

"Yeah I think so."

**Monday**

The last thing Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter expected was to be bodily hauled out of the commissary at 7 AM.

"Cameron, I haven't even had coffee yet," she had to trot to keep up with him so he wouldn't pull her arm out of its socket, "where the hell are we going?"

"Security."

She looked at him in surprise as the elevator doors shut behind them.

"What? Why?"

Her long-time friend and teammate grinned at her. "There's something you need to see."

The doors opened and they took the walk down the corridor to the room where the security cameras were monitored.

Cameron threw a sideways glance at her just before he opened the door.

" 'Member how pissed off Jackson was Saturday night?"

"Yeah. Can't really blame him, Vala hasn't been out with Stuart since before she got sick…actually I thought she'd broken it off with him."

Cameron grinned at her again. "Well if she hadn't before, I'm pretty certain she will be now."

He opened the door and motioned Sam into the room that was unusually crowded and noisy. A sergeant, leaning against the wall by the door noted their arrival. She shot to attention. Her command of 'ten hutt' brought the others in the room to the same stance and stilled the chatter.

Cam made a settling motion with his hands. "At ease people, just bringin' Colonel Carter in to see what's got the grapevine buzzin' this morning."

"Ah yes sir," the Lieutenant actually on duty on the room waved the two SFs closest to him away from the console, motioning Sam to the spot behind them they had vacated, "Ma'am?"

Sam stepped into the spot and focused on the video screen that was showing a security tape from the previous day. Her eyes widened and her head tilted forward a fraction as she realized that she was seeing two of her teammates locked in a passionate embrace.

"Holy _Hannah_," she breathed.

She glanced over the over her shoulder at Cam. "How?" she mouthed.

"Looked like an argument," he muttered with a shrug.

Samantha snorted a laugh, "Why is that not a surprise?"

She focused again on the screen where the two had separated to opposite sides of the room seemingly not paying any attention to the other except for brief moments when they came back into physical proximity of the other. Shortly they exited the room, the lights went out and the door closed.

The Lieutenant looked up at Sam. "Did you wish to see the tape from the beginning Ma'am?"

"No, that won't be necessary Lieutenant, thank you. Could you tell me though if they've signed back in yet?"

"Yes, Ma'am," the young blond man at the console consulted a computer printout, "Ms. Mal Doran signed back in last night around 9 PM, and Dr. Jackson hasn't arrived yet, but given the time," the blond glanced up at the live camera feed from the guard hut at the front gate, "that's probably him now."

The two Colonel's both looked up at the video screen the lieutenant indicated to see Daniel's familiar dark green Jeep ease past the raised barrier at the front entrance.

Cam nudged her. "His first stop will be for coffee."

Sam nodded, laying a hand on the young airman's shoulder. "Thank you Lieutenant."

He rose to his feet, turning to give her a quick salute.

"You're welcome ma'am."

All the others in the room also came back to attention, raising their hands to salute as the Colonels left the room. The door closing behind them covered the resumption of the chatter their presence had quelled.

"So that was the result of an argument?" Sam asked while they made their way back to the elevator.

"Well, it was closer to Jackson ranting about somethin'," Cameron shot a sideways look at her, " ya know how he gets when he's pissed off, and Vala on the other side of the workbench, stunned by whatever was comin' outta his mouth."

Cam swiped his card through the elevator control panel. "Then he stopped talking, Vala walked over to him, there was an exchange of words, she launched herself at him..."

"And then that kiss." Sam finished.

"Yup."

The doors slid open and they exited the elevator.

"Well," Sam said, "I can't say I'm surprised by any of this and while as their friend I am happy they've finally reached this stage, I'm concerned about what this means for the team."

Cameron nodded. "I was thinkin' the same thing, guess we'll hafta have a serious team discussion."

Sam responded with a nod and a sigh. They pushed through the doors into the commissary. A quick scan of the space confirmed that Teal'c was the only other member of the team yet present. They made a brief stop for coffee before joining him at their usual table. They took the seats on either side of him.

"Morning Teal'c. How are you?" came out of their mouths at the same time.

The Jaffa threw quick sideways glances at them and tilted his head in a faint bow.

"Good morning. I am well. And you both?"

"Fine thanks." and "Just dandy." were their separate replies.

Teal'c returned to peeling an orange. "You are both aware of what has transpired?"

Cameron sipped at his coffee. "Oh yeah, hard not to be, grapevine's workin' overtime, haven't found out yet though who won the pool."

"I believe that would be me." Teal'c put an orange segment in his mouth.

"You!…You?" Sam spluttered.

A ghost of a smile touched the Jaffa's mouth. "Indeed."

"But..."Sam started.

Conversation was caught off as everyone else in the room rose to their feet and burst into a brief round of applause. The three friends looked to see Daniel standing just inside the door, appearing utterly baffled and embarrassed. Catching sight of them he made a beeline for their table, dropping into a chair across from them, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

"What the hell was that about?"

Cameron smirked at him. "You're a star Jackson."

The confusion on the archeologist's face deepened. "Huh?"

Before any of them could reply, the others in the room once again rose to their feet and burst into another brief round of applause, this time also accompanied by cat calls and whistles. The four looked over to the fifth member of the team frozen in the same spot Daniel had been moments before. Her smile was brilliant but her movements hesitant as if she was thrilled to be the centre of attention but had no idea why.

"And there's your leading lady." Cameron's smirk deepened.

Daniel looked at his CO in puzzlement. "What?"

"The security cameras in your office Daniel?" Sam prompted.

He shook his head, still mystified.

"Everything that went on in there yesterday is on tape." Sam finished as Vala plopped into the chair beside Daniel.

His eyes widened in sudden understanding.

"Oh!" dropped out of his mouth as he turned his gaze on her.

She beamed at him. "What's on tape?"

"Us," he said quietly, "in my office yesterday."

Comprehension spread across her face.

"Oh is that what this is about? And here I thought I was just looking particularly fetching this morning." she finished by bestowing a brilliant smile on the man next to her.

"You are." he said softly, returning her smile.

Sam drowned a delighted giggle with a mouthful of coffee. She had never seen Vala blush before, nor had she ever seen that love-light in Daniel's eyes before. Under her lashes she cast glances at the other two men. Teal'c's usually impassive face looked pleased. Cam was rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"Okay you two," he said, "as happy as we are that this may mean we won't have to listen to your bickering anymore, we will need to have a serious discussion about the fraternization regs and team dynamics."

Daniel turned his gaze from Vala to Cam.

"Well Jack's opinion was that as long as we're discrete and you three don't have a problem with us being together then there's no reason to alter the team."

"You've already talked to Jack about this?" Sam asked in surprise.

Daniel's eyebrows went up in equal surprise.

"Of course," his gaze dropped for a moment to Vala beside him, "this was too important for me to not clarify first what the obstacles might be. I've read the fraternization clause in my contract numerous times, but it's very vague. So I figured a second opinion on how to interpret the wording would be good."

Shrugging, he sat back in his chair, the arm closest to Vala settling along the back of hers.

"For all of his messing around, I knew that after he was done teasing me I'd get a serious opinion," he shrugged again, "plus I figured it wouldn't hurt to have tacit approval from the Head of Homeland Security if the IOA should kick up a fuss."

"So where does this leave the team?" Cam asked.

"Unaltered as far as we're concerned but I guess ultimately it's up to you three."

Sam watched him glance carefully at the rest of the team. She wondered if he realized that his hand had moved from the back of the chair to rest softly against Vala's shoulder and that his fingers were making small movements over the surface of her jacket. If that protective, possessive gesture was instinctual like Sam thought it was, then he would be resolute. Breaking up the team was not something that he would willingly do, but neither was he going to be willing to give up this new relationship with Vala. Sam shared looks with the other two men. There was almost no need for words, their understanding and acceptance of the situation was evident in their eyes. Her gaze finally came to rest on Vala, who had said virtually nothing since she'd sat down. She had been paying attention to the conversation, but had also been fiddling with the salt shaker. Sam recognized the signs. The former space-pirate was nervous. Sam hoped that Daniel, despite the love in his eyes, still saw it too.

"Vala" Sam prompted, "anything you want to add?"

Vala sat back completely in her chair, her hands dropping to her lap. Daniel's hand that had been lightly resting against her now curved completely around the top of her shoulder.

She shook her head. "Nope. Daniel and I talked about this yesterday. Since the beginning we've automatically kept track of each other," she flashed a grin, "although granted on Daniel's part it originally was probably because he mistrusted what I was getting him into."

The truth of that statement made the others laugh.

"But still I agree with him, I don't think us being together is going to affect the way the five of us function as a team."

"Fine," Cam put down the spoon he'd been playing with and leaned back in his chair," so we're all agreed that the status quo remains, but," he leaned forward again, eyeing his four friends seriously, "if anyone sees changes that could become a problem then we reassess."

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"Great. Glad that's resolved" Cam shoved back his chair and stood, " 'cuz I'm starved."

"Me too." Vala leapt from her chair to follow him to the serving line.

Daniel rose and strolled after them, stopping to acquire his first fix of caffeine. Sam watched them, Vala in particular. Sam hadn't missed that the entire time she had been speaking Vala kept fidgeting with her sleeve cuffs. Another sign that she was unsure of herself. Which was in direct contrast to Daniel's increasing confidence in the situation, as evidenced by the way he was now standing beside her in the hot food line, his hand lightly sitting at her waist.

Sighing at her friends unpredictability she got up. Her gaze fell on Teal'c. Curiosity got the better of her. She sat back down.

"So tell me Teal'c," she said lightly, stealing a grape from his tray, "how did you manage to win the betting pool?"

The Jaffa didn't even pause in applying jam to his last piece of toast. "I selected the correct date."

"Yes I know that Teal'c, but I thought the date you selected was two years from now," she stole another grape, "what prompted you to change your choice."

The deep brown eyes flickered to her. "I believe O'Neill would call it 'a gut feeling'" the toast went into his mouth.

"Uhhunh… and when did you change it?"

"In November."

"So after we returned from our trip on the Odyssey?"

"Indeed."

Samantha turned to look directly at him. "That would be inside information wouldn't it?"

"Perhaps."

"Is that fair? It's not like you need the money."

"Nor does anyone else here."

"True, but still…"

Teal'c put his hand on her arm. "Rest assured Samantha, the money will be put to good use. It is my intention to donate it to a charity of their choosing when they are wed."

Sam's eyes went wide. "When they are wed?," then she smiled, "And were they wed while we were on the Odyssey?"

Teal'c shook his head. "No, much to DanielJackson's regret. He said as much when we were preparing for the blast that returned us to the correct time."

"But they were together?"

A small smile touched the Jaffa's mouth "They were."

"And they were happy?"

He nodded. "Very much, although," his smile faltered slightly, "as in all lives there were moments when they experienced unhappiness."

"And were there moments of similar happiness for the rest of us." she asked hesitantly, curious and reluctant at the same time to know what he was remembering.

His brown eyes flickered again to hers and his eyebrow went up.

"Samantha, you know I cannot answer that. It was your wise and aged self that cautioned me to not share events before they could happen in this time so as to not influence the future."

Sam sighed. "Yes, I would say that wouldn't I?"

Teal'c smiled at her, his eyes full of mirth and affection.

"Indeed."


	6. Late May 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: PG at the moment. There will be 'mature' chapters but I'll post those in the appropriate section when the time comes.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: So it was suggested that as my last chapter had reference to 'trouser action'(lol, still makes me laugh) I should have changed the rating to 'T'...I felt the reference was mild and fleeting enough to not be a concern, however I'm changing it for this one...although adult situations are still just being alluded to.

#

**Saturday, end of May 2008**

Vala surveyed her surroundings. It reminded her of the one they'd been in the year before, but this one was smaller. She was glad they hadn't returned to the first one. The last thing she wanted during their first openly acknowledged date was to remember how their non-date had ended. She turned her attention to the menu, throwing a quick glance at her companion. Intent on his own menu, a familiar crease of thought between his eyes as it had been for the latter part of the week. She wondered, with a pang of uncertainty if this date was going to turn out any better than the non-date had.

Daniel knew he'd been staring. Not an actual hard, unrelenting stare, more an inability to take his eyes off her for more than a few minutes at a time. Even now while he was trying to study the menu, peripheral vision over the top of his glasses kept his attention focused on her. It had been that way since she had stepped out of her quarters in the pale blue dress he remembered from Foley's department store. It looked on her exactly the way he knew it would; elegant and stunning. Knee length, it wasn't tight but followed her shape closely enough to keep drawing his eyes back to the sensuous sway of her hips. Or maybe it was the ridiculously high-heeled barely-there sandals that made her legs look like they went on forever that he couldn't talk his eyes off of. Whatever it was, he'd been vividly aware of her all the way down the corridor to the elevator. Then she had preceded him in to it and the intermittent tingle that had passed through his groin every time he had looked at her in the past two days was no longer intermittent. Viewing the dress in the store from the front, it had seemed a simple sheath with a rounded neck that draped only low enough to hint at cleavage. Graceful and pleasing to the eye, but not provocative enough to make his breath catch. Viewing it from the back however, did make his breath catch. The neckline plunged halfway down her back, exposing a lot of smooth, creamy skin. Now he couldn't stop thinking about tracing a line of kisses from the nape of her neck downwards.

Shifting in his seat to ease the tightening of his pants, he gave himself a mental shake. He had to get a grip or this evening would careen out of control. He'd never understood how other guys could romance a beautiful woman they wanted to be with and still stay in control of the situation. Personally, he was mess just thinking about finally taking her into his bed. Which really was making him wonder if the whole romantic dinner before taking her home with him was the stupidest idea he had ever had. Now, sitting across from her, watching her grey eyes gleam like silver in the candlelight, trying to maintain a sensible conversation while anticipating how he intended this night to end was making him crazy.

Sighing, Vala shut her menu and looked up to find Daniel watching her over the rim of his water glass. She knew that his gaze had barely strayed from her since they'd sat down. She was always aware when his crystal blue eyes were focused on her. She just wished she could see the same love and tenderness that had been there on Sunday instead of the earnest seriousness she saw now. It wasn't helping the queasiness that had settled in her stomach as the week had passed.

It had been an odd week. They had gone from the euphoria of suddenly discovered love on Sunday, to the moments of embarrassment the following morning when their separate arrivals in the commissary had resulted in two rounds of applause, to almost no time alone together for the rest of the week as they continued with a full slate of diplomatic missions to inform the affected worlds that the Ori had been defeated, to his fake nonchalance on Thursday when he let her know that he'd made Saturday night dinner reservations for them. Then he'd become increasingly quiet and thoughtful. She'd caught him watching her few times, but had returned her bright, happy smile with a small, tight one that didn't reach his eyes. She didn't want to consider that he might be having second thoughts. It just didn't seem something he was likely to do after declaring his feelings, but she couldn't deny his demeanor in the past 36 hours hadn't been of a man happily in love. Not that him changing his mind would've surprised her. She was all too familiar with the concept of the universe pulling the rug out from under her.

"So, what are you having?" she asked a little too brightly.

He swallowed the mouthful of water he had taken and sat the glass on the table.

"Uh, just their basic steak I think. We've so many unique delicacies this week I'm craving plain, old beef."

Despite her less than cheery frame of mind she had to smile at that. They'd been obligated to attend two or three celebratory banquets off-world that week and while the food had been fine for the most part, there had been some things too odd for them to stomach, even with Daniel's enthusiasm for exploring new cultures.

"You?" he took a roll from the basket between them.

She nodded. "The same I think. I'm kinda tired of things that taste like chicken."

He snorted a soft laugh as the waiter arrived to take their orders.

Dinner conversation was sporadic with a thread of tension running through it that did nothing to loosen the knot of anxiety in Vala's gut. It also didn't help when he seemed to want to foreshorten their evening by asking that they skip dessert."

She looked at him in surprise. "You're turning down something rich and chocolate?"

He shrugged. "Yeah well, I'm just not in the mood tonight. I'm tired and I've had a headache for most of the day."

"Daniel," she scolded gently, "why didn't you say so earlier? You know we could have postponed this."

"Yes," he sighed, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes, "I know, but I'd promised you and I didn't want to let you down."

The queasy feeling in Vala's stomach began to ease. She didn't think he was likely to be about to tell her that he was having second thoughts about them if he was more concerned with not breaking a promise to her than about feeling lousy.

She smiled gently. "Sure, I can live without chocolate."

He slid his glasses back on and gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you. So I'll pay this and then take you back to the base okay?"

She leaned across the table to touch his hand. "No Daniel, that's not okay. I don't want you driving all the way to the base and back again to your place when you're not feeling great. I can sleep on your couch just fine. You can take me back in the morning."

The crease between his eyes deepened while he studied her. He shook his head.

"I don't think that's such a great idea."

She withdrew her hand, and sat back in her chair, frowning.

"You don't trust my intentions do you?' she asked, hurt and disbelief in her voice.

He shook his head again. "No Vala…that's not it," sighing he looked away, "believe me that's not it."

She leaned towards him. "Then what?"

He brought his gaze back to meet hers.

"I," he started, then stopped, shut his eyes and shook his head a third time, "never…never mind."

Daniel suddenly moved his chair back from the table and stood up.

"C'mon, let's go. I just wanna go home and take something for this headache."

Vala followed him, the queasy feeling still sitting in the pit of her stomach.

The drive back to Daniel's place was short and quiet. They said almost nothing until they stepped into his apartment.

"So I'll get a blanket and a pillow outta the closet for you." he paused to relock the door.

She took his arm as he turned away. "Daniel, don't. I can…," she stopped talking abruptly at the way he winced suddenly. "What?"

Shrugging he headed to the bathroom. "Back's kinda tender too. Probably that tumble we took on '918' the other day."

She followed him. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that."

He shook his head. "Not your fault Vala. How often is a 'gate in an animal pasture?"

"You know you shoulda mentioned your back to Carolyn."

"It's no big deal, I just wrenched it. Two or three of these," he took a bottle of Advil from the cabinet, "and my back and head will be fine in the morning."

Vala looked at him thoughtfully, tapping her finger against her lips.

Focused on dropping tablets into his hand and running water into a cup he didn't notice her scanning the contents of the medicine cabinet; past the partially used bottle of cough syrup, a couple of empty prescription containers, a pack of disposal razors, a can of shaving cream, a bottle of sunblock and a tube of toothpaste, finally zeroing in on a small tub.

"What's this?" she reached passed him.

"Hey!" he had to lean back a bit to avoid her arm, "Vala, stay outta there wouldja?"

He shot her a look of annoyance as he returned the Advil bottle to the shelf and snapped the door shut.

"Oh relax Daniel, I was only interested in this," she gestured with the container while she read the label, "so this is a skin cream of some sort?"

He glanced at it while he backed her out the door. "Uh, yeah."

"Great. So you go change into something more comfortable, then I'll see what I can about your back."

"Yeah, yeah fine, but first I need to use the bathroom."

"Oh…right," she flashed a small apologetic smile, "sorry."

The door between them closed.

Vala turned, scanning the area around her, only to realize what she was seeking was right beside her. She pulled open the closet and took one of two pillows and a lightweight blanket. On her way to the kitchen she made a brief detour into the living room to deposit the bedding and her shoes beside the couch. She padded into the kitchen, poured a glass of juice and considered making coffee. From down the hall she heard doors opening and closing. She sensed his presence a few moments later while she was rinsing out the coffee pot.

"Do you want coffee?"

"No, that's okay. Carolyn keeps telling me I need to cut back anyway."

Vala dumped the water out of the carafe and put it in the dish rack. She turned.

Daniel, his back to her was pouring juice into a small glass. She relaxed against the counter, taking full advantage of a few moments to gaze at him.

He'd changed into a ratty pair of black track pants and an equally ratty blue-grey t-shirt. The pants, sitting on ridiculously slim hips, faintly outlined the curving lines of his backside. The t-shirt had probably been looser once, now the fit contoured to his torso perfectly. It was only when he wasn't clad in BDUs, that were slightly too large for him that, that she was reminded of how lean and muscular he was. She licked her lips in anticipation of the moment when he finally took her into his bed.

He put the carton of juice back in the 'fridge. "So what did you want with the Vitamin E cream?"

He turned as he shut the 'fridge door and winced again.

Vala frowned slightly. Her brief meander into lust was erased by concern for the flash of pain that passed over his face.

She pushed away from the counter. "I thought a massage might make your back feel better."

Her offer made his breath catch in his throat. He carefully swallowed the mouthful of juice he'd taken to keep from choking.

He shook his head. "That's not necessary Vala. The Advil will do fine, thanks."

She stepped closer, laying a hand on his chest.

"Daniel," she said softly, "let me, please. I'm really very good at it. It'll help your headache too."

He let out a small sigh as he studied her. The craving, after so long, to have this woman's hands on his body was almost too much.

"Vala, I…"he started.

She cut him off.  
"You really don't trust me do you?"

She stepped back from him, her hands settling on her hips. The hurt in her grey eyes made him hurt.

She shook her head. "That's not fair Daniel. You asked me to give you some breathing space, so I did. All week the most I've done is touch you occasionally to reassure myself that I was actually allowed to do that, so that I know that last Sunday wasn't something I imagined. So why can you not trust that I'm only offering this to make your back feel better?"

He closed his eyes and let his head drop forward. "It's not you Vala."

With a sigh he opened his eyes, put the glass on the counter and walked over to her.

He slid a hand along her cheek. "I promise it's not you."

She searched his face.

"Then what?" she implored.

He flashed a small self-deprecating smile and he shrugged.

"Nothing…just…just me thinking too much."

He gave her cheek a final caress before turning to leave the kitchen.

She followed.

"Daniel, what does that mean…please talk to…"

"Vala, just leave it okay?"

"Daniel…"

"Vala…please."

She sighed. She knew he was shutting her out. She'd done the same thing to him enough times to recognize the technique. It still made her want to stamp her foot and yell at him in frustration. She also knew though, that like her, the more he was pushed, the more he would shut down.

She stopped in the bedroom doorway. He was rummaging through dresser drawers. He threw a glance at her over his shoulder.

"Figured if you were serious about this massage thing, you'd need to change your clothes."

She blinked in surprise. "Oh…so you're gonna trust me on this after all?"

He half turned towards her as she stopped beside him. "That isn't the issue Vala."

"Here these oughta work for you," he finished, holding out a package to her

She stared at him as he turned back to rummage through another drawer. He was still a puzzle. Shaking her head, she glanced down at the package he'd given her. The face of a movie character complete with battered fedora and bullwhip printed all over the boxer shorts in the unopened package made her burst out laughing.

"Oh you have got to be kidding?" she chortled.

"Yeah well," Daniel muttered without turning around, "they were a gag gift from the demented mind of Jack O'Neill that I've never had a use for; one, I don't wear boxers and two, they were too small to begin with," her turned back to her, a black t-shirt in his hands, "maybe they'll fit you," he handed her the t-shirt, "and…and you can take this too."

Vala returned to the bedroom a short time later. The boxers were a little too large, but would do. The t-shirt was a little too long and a little large, but it smelled of Daniel and when she recognized the hole in the shoulder she was so overwhelmed by a rush of love for him she almost cried.

She padded across the room to the bed where Daniel, minus his t-shirt, was sprawled on his stomach. She deposited a small hand towel and the open tub of cream beside him. Carefully she moved across the bed on her knees to straddle his lower back. She settled against him, the juncture of her legs coming to rest on his tailbone. She paused, orienting herself, making minute shifts in position to centre herself.

It took her a moment, once she was comfortable, to realize how tense he was. He really wasn't open to her doing this. She suspected he was humouring her, letting her have her way so she'd stop pushing him about what was bugging him. Vala sighed in sad frustration at the new wall he'd suddenly thrown up between them. She considered for a minute backing off and leaving him on his own, but the simple need to touch and care for him won out.

Vala rubbed her hands together briefly to warm them, then placed them flat against his back.

"I'm letting our skin temperature equalize, then I'll concentrate on warming and loosening all the muscles before I dig into the muscles that really seem to be bothering you."

If he made a response she didn't notice as her focus narrowed to what she'd been taught.

She removed one hand from his back long enough to scoop up a small amount of cream, then lying that forearm across his back, she leaned on it to rub the cream between her hands. Sitting up she began to move her hands over him in gentle circles. The skin under her hands was warm and smooth and not nearly as tanned as his arms. Her thoughts wandered to those areas of skin that would be pale and untouched by the sun.

She closed her eyes and struggled to refocus. Slowly she moved her cream-slick hands up each side of his spine in ever-widening circles until her fingers could close around his shoulders. She pushed the base of her hands against the thick mass beneath them. Heavy, solid muscle rolled and shifted under her fingers. Her focus slipped away again with the sudden image of those same muscles contracting and flexing as he thrust into her. A heavy, sweet ache blossomed in the pit of her stomach. Drawing a breath she fought the temptation to change her touches and strokes from relaxing to arousing. She straightened, moving her hands away from his shoulders back down to lay flat against his back.

"You're stopping?"

Vala smiled at the slight inflection of disappointment in his voice.

She cleared her throat. "Sorry, it's been a while since I've done this and my hands were cramping."

"And where did you learn this?"

Vala leaned into the earlier position to reapply cream to her hands.

"A healer."

Daniel turned his head in her direction, squinting at her.

"Just a random healer, Vala?"

She sat up again, staring at her hands laying flat on his back.

"Two people on the planet where the Tok'ra left me suddenly decided after 6 months that I'd been tortured enough for Qetesh's crimes. They sent me through the 'gate to a healer on Cimmeria."

His slight shift in position drew her attention. He'd raised his head and was looking at her in amazement.

"Kendra?"

Vala's eyes widened in surprise. "You met her?"

He nodded, laying his head back down on the pillow

"She was the first one to offer me any hope that the host could survive, that if I could get Shau'ri into that thing on Cimmeria that the Asgard had created to kill the symbiote, I would get my wife back."

Vala stared down at him, torn between sympathy for the loss that still put a faint ache in his voice and the dawning realization that she'd only ever be second best to him. She picked up the towel to wipe the cream from her hands.

"You would've never really gotten her back Daniel," she stated bitterly, wiping any traces of cream off his back, "she would've come back to just as damaged as I am."

She moved off him, off the bed and out of the room. She stopped in the living room, undecided between staying or calling the base for a driver.

"Vala, what the hell was that?"

His voice, directly above her shoulder, was soft and puzzled.

Hands on her hips, she whirled around to glare at him with angry, watery eyes.

"That, Daniel, was me finally realizing that I'm just your consolation prize"

She turned away, snatching up the blanket in trembling hands. "No matter how hard I try I will never be her."

"Her who? Shau'ri?"

Unable to trust her voice, Vala just nodded.

"Vala, you're being ridiculous, I don't want you to be."

She whirled to face him, swallowing past the tightness in her throat.

"Don't you? Can you honestly say that if she walked through the door right now, even if she was as damaged as I am, that you wouldn't choose her first."

She turned again to snap the blanket open. He grabbed her arms in an iron grip, holding her to face him.

"Stop it!" he almost shook her, "You know that's not going to happen so stop making up reasons to push me away."

"Me?" she squeaked in surprise, "Pushing you away?" What about you? You've barely smiled at me for the last two days, you're thinking about something so hard I can hear it, but when I try to get you to talk to me, you…you evade the subject and you tell me it's not me."

"It's not." he said earnestly.

"Then what Daniel?" she challenged, "Does last Sunday suddenly make you feel that you're betraying Shau'ri?"

His hands fell away from her arms. She walked away, stopping in front of the large windows and wrapping her arms around herself.

"Is that what you think?" he asked in disbelief.

"What else am I supposed to think Daniel? Your," her voice caught, " your voice still aches when you say her name."

"Ahhh God, Vala," he stopped directly behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, "I guarantee this doesn't have anything to do with Shau'ri."

She turned, gazing at him with desperate, tear-filled eyes. "Then what?"

He put his hand to her cheek in the one gesture that spoke of the infinite tenderness between them.

"I," he started, then stopped, giving her a soft smile, "I love you, very much."

His brow suddenly creased. "And I haven't said that to you at all this week, have I?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head before she could say anything.

"I'm sorry. I'm not good at this stuff. I get too involved in what I'm doing and I forget."

He opened soft, loving blue eyes to her. "Forgive me?"

His sweetness was disarming. The queasy knot in her stomach vanished. She closed the space between them and laid a gentle hand on his chest.

"Then you need to forgive me too because I haven't said it to you either."

He slid both hands to each side of her face, burying his fingers in her hair, stroking the delicate skin under her ears with his thumbs.

"Guess we both need to do better huh?"

"Uhunh." she murmured, winding her arms around his waist and leaning up to meet his mouth with hers.

The kiss was tender and unhurried. They drew apart after a few moments, resting foreheads together.

"Sleep with me?" he whispered.

She leaned away, regarding him with surprise.

"Really?"

He nodded slightly, but immediately put a finger to her lips.

"Just sleep. The last few weeks have been hectic and after sleeping off-world the last two nights I'm exhausted…I think we could both do with a good nights sleep."

Later, when she was content and half asleep in his arms for the first time, she realized what'd happened. With sweet words and love in his clear blue eyes he'd distracted her from what was really bothering him.

#

**A/N again**...so will anyone be surprised if this story moves to "M" next time.


	7. June 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Is now 'M' and will remain so for the remaining duration of this story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N: **About one week after the previous 'date'. Slight spoiler for SGA S4.

Special thanks to 'sg1cat'(The Discovery) for his time and thoughts…and always to Isa for her general beta work.

This chapter and the next one cover a time period of about 14 hours. The next chapter picks up immediately where this leaves off. The rating for this is most definitely 'M' and from here on out it's probably easiest if I just leave the rating at 'M'.

#

**June 2008**

"There you are." Daniel stepped onto the balcony, sliding the screen door shut behind him.

Sam glanced at him over her shoulder. "Oh hi."

He stopped beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder in a quick squeeze.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, just trying to memorize this," she gestured towards the expanse of grass and trees before them that lead their eyes away from their urban surroundings to the mountains on the horizon.

"It could be a while before I have solid ground under my feet again. Or," she paused, inhaling the scents of early summer, "before I smell things blooming again."

"Regretting this decision?" his arm dropped to settle lightly at her waist.

Leaning into the protective embrace, she shook her head. "Not the decision, just that I seem to be breaking up the band."

A smile passed over his mouth at the tone of wry amusement in her voice.  
"Oh, don't be. I think we're all ready to move on. Saving the galaxy twice in one lifetime is more than adequate. I, for one, don't want to be responsible for doing it the next time."

Sam snorted a small laugh. "Yeah, it has been quite a ride, hasn't it?"

"It has."

The tone of his voice just above her ear was sombre and reflective. She cast a quick glance up at him. His expression as he stared unfocused into the twilight was pensive. She knew, without asking, where the thought of everything they had been through had automatically taken him. She gave him a gentle nudge to draw his attention away from those memories. He looked down at her, his eyes shadowed behind his glasses.

Her smile was soft. "Daniel, I know we've lost a lot, but we've gained too."

He raised an eyebrow.

She turned directly to him, laying a hand on his arm.

"I had my dad six years longer that I should have, you and I have both fallen in love…hell you've even got to do it a second time."

He sighed. "I was satisfied with the first time."

Sam shook her head. "But for how long?"

Daniel eyes widened in shock at her implication that his first love wouldn't have been enough.

Sam shook her head again. "As much as you loved Sha're, Daniel, your brain would have stagnated on Abydos. Eventually your need to learn and explore would have driven you off the planet and it would have killed you to choose between the need to take her with you and knowing that you'd be taking her away from her home and family. She would have gone with you because she loved you, but would you ever have been able to shake the underlying guilt for having taken her away from her home?

She watched his brow crease in thought for a moment while she continued.

"With Vala?" Sam took her hand off his arm and stepped back with a shrug, "well Vala you can take to the farthest reaches of the galaxy without ever feeling that you've taken her away from her home, because you ARE her home."

She patted his arm, "So like you said a minute ago, it's time for us all to move on to the rest of our lives. For me, that's means the Midway Station; for you, that means you get to be just Dr. Jackson again instead of a solider-boy and you can create whatever kind of life you want with Vala," she paused again briefly, "but first find out, what it is about you two being together that's making her nervous before it overwhelms her and she takes off through the Stargate."

Daniel huffed a dry laugh. "Thought I was the only one seeing that."

Sam flashed a small smile. "No, and I'm relieved to know that you're seeing it too."

He exhaled another dry laugh. "I've never been blinded by love Sam, I'm always aware of her behaviour."

"And what do you think is bothering her?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea," he paused taking the few steps to lean against the balcony railing, "Just because I can recognize her 'tells' doesn't mean I can interpret them. Look how long it took me to figure out she was seriously interested in me."

"Good point." Sam chuckled coming to stand beside him at the railing.

She let her gaze roam over the park below them, drinking in the life and lushness of her home planet in early summer.

"What are you going to do about it?" she asked after a few moments.

She sensed him shrug more than she saw it.

"No idea. I've yet to figure out how to get her to just talk to me. The only time I get an inkling of what might be bothering her is if something hurts her enough to make her cry," his head dropped forward and he made a slight negative motion with it, "And I can't stand when that happens, it just about kills me to see her like that."

He raised his head again after a few moments of silence, tapping his fingers against the railing in a gesture to end the conversation.

"C'mon we should go back in before the others coming looking for us."

Sam tilted her head questioningly. "You're sure?  
Daniel nodded. "Yeah, this was supposed to be about the teams' last night together, not trying to figure out my screwy love life.

Laughing softly, Sam turned to go and suddenly found herself face to face with him. Eleven years of living and working by his side flashed through her brain. He was not her brother by blood, but her bond with him, that had been forged by life and death circumstances was perhaps stronger than brother and sister. His support and belief in her and everything she did had been constant and unwavering from the beginning.

Blinking rapidly against a sudden flood of tears, she put her hand to his cheek.

"Gonna miss you, Dr. Jackson," she managed past the lump in her throat.

He nodded, flashing a smile of deep affection..

"Likewise, Captain Dr."

She emitted a short, moist laugh as she wound her arms around his neck, pressing herself into his instant embrace. She stepped back from him after a moment, looking at him through a veil of tears.

"Thank you," she said around the tightness in her throat.

His brow creased in faint puzzlement

"For what?"

"For being such a good friend and always giving me the space to be unmilitary."

Daniel smiled at her, a few of his own tears tracking down his cheeks

"And I always will."

The rest of the evening passed amidst shared memories, laughter, some tears and a surprising lack of alcohol. There seemed to be a need on everyone's part to remember everything about their last official night together as the SGC's flagship team.

It was after 1am when Cam, Teal'c and Sam left. Daniel emerged from his bedroom several minutes after their departure, having retrieved his keys and wallet. He stopped at the apartment door where Vala was leaning against the wall beside the door, patiently waiting for him to take her back to the base.

He stared at her, fragments of his earlier conversation with Sam repeating in his head…_"ready to move on_"…._"time to build a new life"_ .

"Daniel?"

The note of uncertainty in her voice broke through his reverie.

"Hmm?" he responded softly.

Vala raised questioning eyebrows."

"Are we going?"

He focused on her. Suddenly he knew. This was how he needed to do this. Without forethought…without over-thinking…without mulling over all the ways he could mess this up…without anything except showing her that he loved her.

He closed the space between them, reaching over with one hand to shut and lock the door, his other hand lifting to cup her face.

"Not tonight." he murmured.

The next few moments moved in slow motion. Sight, sound, touch, smell and taste were etched into memory. He drew his hand away from the door, sliding it into the silken weight of her hair, the other hand tilting her face up to his The taste and the feel of her soft, lush mouth under his re-lit the fire that had smouldered in his blood since their first short, heated kisses. He deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue across her lips, seeking entry. With a small sigh of pleasure her mouth parted and her tongue slid across his like silk. All the blood left his brain and he was lost. Lost to everything except the way she was moving against him, the soft sounds coming from the back of her throat and a need to finally claim her. At the press of the door on the backs of his hands he realized he pushed her against its wooden surface and was rubbing himself against her. He grasped for control, turning his hands from the natural position they'd found cupped around her rear to press against the door and, push himself away from her. He drew in a steadying breath and opened his eyes. A tremor went through his groin at the vision before him. Her stance was unchanged from the way she had been molded to him. Her mouth, slightly parted and glistening pink from his kisses; the long, pale column of her throat an offering to his mouth, tongue and teeth, her breasts thrust upward as if asking him to draw his hands across the already hardened nipples, her pelvis tilted up as he had been pressing against her. She was so open and ready for him. A quick in and out against the door was what his primitive mind was urging him to do. He pulled in another calming breath. He had to get a grip or this would be ending the way he'd feared. He took a physical step away from her. Her lids opened. She looked at him with puzzled, heat glazed eyes.

"You're stopping?"

He shook his head. "Just…just need to back off or we'll be finishing this against the door."

Vala grinned wickedly, taking the step to close the space between them.

"Works for me," she murmured, rubbing her hands over the hard ridge of flesh straining against his jeans.

"No," he growled, pulling her hands away, "this isn't going to be a quickie against the door. I wanna take a little breather to get ready for bed before we continue okay?"

Vala looked at him, suddenly unsure. "But we will continue, right?"

Daniel let his eyes glide over her, bringing his gaze back to hers. His mouth twisted into a softly seductive grin that she'd never seen before.

"I promise," he whispered.

Daniel started laughing when he walked into bedroom several minutes later. The memory of the first time he'd found Vala ensconced in his bed, the covers drawn up to her chin to hide her state of undress, flickered through his brain.

"Déjà vu," he chuckled, strolling over to the bed.

He stopped bedside and looked down at her. "Isn't this the part where you throw back the covers to try to entice me into bed?"

Vala grinned up at him. "You mean like this?" she tossed back the bedding.

Daniel's heart almost stopped. There was no skimpy red camisole or barely-there bikini underwear involved here. Only unclothed expanses of smooth porcelain skin and curves.

The memory from the _Prometheus_ of that skin and those curves under his hands flashed through his brain. Somehow though, he didn't think that having her naked and unconscious in the ship's brig was going to compare to having her naked and aroused in his bed. He sank to the bed, unable to take his eyes off her. She sat up, bringing her heat and scent to mess with his brain.

"Is it working this time?" she asked huskily.

"Oh yeah," he breathed, reaching to cup the soft weight of her breasts in his hands.

He skimmed his thumbs over the satiny peaks, watching, entranced as each nipple puckered and hardened under his touch. Daniel raised his eyes to hers, one hand moved from her breast into the waves of dark hair spilling over her shoulders, cupping the back of her head to guide her mouth to his.

"God, you're beautiful," he said in a low, rough voice as his mouth closed over hers.

Her lips parted without coaxing, her tongue flickered over his, teasing, beckoning, welcoming it into the wet heat of her mouth. That and her hand easing into his pajama pants to wrap around him pulled a heavy moan from him. It had been too long since he'd been touched like that by anyone except himself. He pressed her back into the pillows behind her. His mouth left hers, trailing down her throat, nipping and sucking lightly against pulse points. until she was softly moaning. At the base of her throat he paused, centering his mouth directly over her rapidly beating pulse to suck and rub his tongue over it. She moaned loudly, her back arched, thrusting her breasts up as if begging for his attention. He complied, lowering his mouth to lap his tongue slowly over the hard peak of flesh. She quivered under the touch, low whimpers of pleasure coming from the back of her throat. His free hand, which he'd been lightly skimming, palm-side down over the other nipple began a slow descent, fingertips ghosting around the outside curve of her breast, to glide over the satin tautness of her belly. A shiver passed over the skin in the wake of his fingers tracing the inside curve of her hip. He slid his hand through the gathering of soft dark curls at the apex of her thighs into the folds of warm, slick flesh between her legs. He tilted his head slightly to take her nipple fully into his mouth, matching the movement of his tongue flicking and rubbing against it, to the motion of his fingers. She murmured his name, shifting her hips to follow the rhythm of his touch. He raised his head, opening his eyes to gaze at her. She was sprawled against the pillows, the wanton, dark-haired nymph from his fantasies. Slowly he began moving his fingers into her and out again, watching her hips rise to meet every movement he made. Her lips parted, her breath coming out as soft gasps. He lowered his mouth once more to her breast, lapping and nipping at it. She groaned loudly, her hips moving faster into his touch. He looked up at her again. The usually blue-grey eyes glittered dark behind hooded eyelids.

"Daniel…," she rasped, the hand that had been firmly stroking along his shaft, sensuously prolonging his existing level of arousal, now tugged at him, hard and urgent, her free hand that had been sliding restlessly over his arm and chest dropped to push at his pajama pants.

The want on her face and the ache building in his groin from the quickening of her hand, triggered lust too long denied. In a rapid movement he rose off the bed, his garment dropped to the floor, then he was moving over and deep into her. Tight, heated silk closed around him. Capacity for coherent thought fled. He began to move. Pulsating muscles gripped at him, sending ripples of heat through his groin, up his spine. She twisted under him, hips rising to meet his thrusts, hands clutching at his shoulders, breath exhaling in small, hard gasps. He dropped his head to her breasts, sucking a nipple into his mouth, trapping it against the roof of his mouth and flicking his tongue over it. His name came out of her mouth in a ragged breath, her legs latched around his waist and her hips shifted angle. Suddenly the entire universe seemed to shrink to lush, smooth muscle rippling over hypersensitive nerve endings, sending sparks of fire up his spine. He plunged into her, fast and rough, seeking…craving…needing. Sweet, nerve-numbing heat roared through him. For a split second time froze and then slowly folded in on itself as he slumped on her, shuddering, her name spilling from his lips in a hard, stuttering groan.

It was several moments before he was coherent enough to push himself up on his arms to see her in focus. It took another beat or two for him to process why she was gazing at him in wonder, but looking decidedly less dazed than he felt. His head dropped to her shoulder for a moment. With a heavy sigh and muttering 'sorry', he rolled off her and the bed, barely pausing to grab his robe from the back of the door as he left the room.


	8. June 2008 cont'd

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M" and will remain so for the remaining duration of this story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N: **This chapter is a continuation of the previous one.

Sorta spoilers for SGA S4

#

Vala watched him disappear down the hall. She heard the bathroom door open, close and open again, soft sounds of further movement and then silence. Puzzled by his last words and where he had gone, she got up, pulled her t-shirt over her head and went in search of him. She found him on the small balcony off his study, hands stuffed into the pockets of his robes, staring into the darkness.

"Daniel," she stopped next to him, turning sideways to face him, "what were you apologizing for?"

There was silence for a moment. He didn't glance at her and only the faint glow from the city lights showed her that he'd made a motion back in the direction of the bedroom with his head.

"For that…debacle," his voice was low and tight.

She frowned. "I….I don't know that word."

She saw his eyes flicker to hers and then away.

"Debacle…a flop…failure…"

That queasy knot began to form in her stomach. Sex with her was a failure?

"I'm….I'm sorry if I'm not…"

He turned suddenly to face her, his hand going to her cheek, tilting her gaze up to meet his, his thumb on her lips cutting her off.

"God, Vala, just don't," he said in a desperate voice, "don't you dare finish that sentence. The only thing you are is amazing, and gorgeous and…I'm at fault here, not you." he let her go, turning away. "…just go back to bed okay…I'll be there in a little while."

She stared at him in the darkness. Tension and guilt seemed to radiate off him in waves. The knot in her gut was quickly becoming anger. He was doing it again. The same thing he'd done the previous week when their relationship was just a few days old. He was shutting her out. She wanted to stomp her foot in frustration. She closed any space between them and clutched at his arm.

"No Daniel," she snapped, "not until you explain what's going in that overly-smart brain of yours. You're doing exactly the same thing you did two weeks ago after our dinner out…you're pushing me away…you evaded the issue then, but I'm not going to let you this time. Now talk to me!"

He was silent. Blinking back hot, angry tears she stepped into the space between him and the balcony railing, seizing the lapels of his robe.

"Don't you dare," she hissed, "treat me like this. You want me to trust you and be honest with you, but yet…I don't get the same from you?"

She studied him for a moment, a realization slowly dawning on her. She let go of his robe suddenly, making a sound of dismissive annoyance.

"But that's the way it's always been hasn't it?…I'm supposed to be an open book to you, but I'm not allowed to know you the same way."

She moved away from him. "You're right Daniel, I am going back to bed…on the couch…you can take me back to the base in the morning and we'll drop this silly notion that we can make this work."

"Vala, wait," he grabbed her arm as she stepped back into the study.

She half turned to him, pulling her arm from his hand. "What?"

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Daniel," she said between clenched teeth, "you've now apologized twice in the space of ten minutes and I still have no idea why. Now either explain or…"

"I let you down." he said suddenly before she could finish.

She gaped at him. "How do you figure that?"

He sighed, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I let things get outta hand earlier," he shrugged, "I…I got lost in you and…and let myself spin…spin out of control."

He looked back up at her. "I'm sorry, it…it wasn't supposed to go like that."

Exhaling a short, harsh laugh he returned to the balcony, "s'ppose I should be thankful though that I wasn't a…a complete teenager."

She followed him.

"Daniel are you beating yourself up because we didn't finish together…because that's just unreali…"

He spun back to her, grabbing her arms. "No, because I couldn't keep myself focused on you…I let my…my…own…cravings get the better of me," he let go of her arms, moving back to railing, "I'm sorry, the…the last thing I want to do is treat you the same way all the others have."

He leaned against the railing, wrapping his arms across his chest. "This first time was supposed to be about you, " his voice dropped lower, "this was supposed to be me loving and caring for you like no one else has, so…so no one could entice you away."

For several long minutes she couldn't find any words. The last thing she expected was that the concept of losing her would put the same quiet ache in his voice he got when he talked about Sha're. Vala went to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her forehead against his back.

"Why would you think that anyone could entice me away?"

She felt him exhale a sharp, bitter laugh.

"I'm a geek Vala, I don't get the pretty girl in the end; either I get played or I manage to screw it up myself."

She leaned her head away from him to stare at the broad expanse of terry-cloth robe in her front of her. It only took her a moment to figure it out.

She tightened her arms around him and laid her cheek against his back.

"Who was she?" she asked quietly.

There was a long pause. She could almost feel him forcing himself to risk this level of trust.

" 'They'," he finally replied.

She lifted her cheek from his back and stared at him in surprise. That information was unexpected. She put her cheek against his back again, closed her eyes and waited. Whatever else he was willing to share had to be his choice, prompts from her would be treated as questions and all she would get would be cut and dried answers.

He started hesitantly. "I…I took…an English Lit. course during the summer between my first and…and second years of college. Barbara was the teaching assistant leading it," she felt the motion of him shaking his head, "God, I…I was only 17…so young…I had a hard enough time talking to girls my own age…at 21 Barbara was completely beyond me."

He sighed. "I used to sit in her class...,"he paused briefly, "it gets hot in those old buildings in the summer…she would come to class in short cutoffs and t-shirts…"his voice softened, "she was smart and vibrant and so sexual, some days I couldn't think straight around her," he huffed a hard laugh, "kinda like you.".

She managed to bite back the innuendo laden comment that she knew would only result in him scowling and probably refusing to say anything else. Instead she waited for him to continue.

"Found out later that she…she was a bit of a predator. In classes she taught she would pick out an obviously inexperienced first year male and make it her mission to take his virginity by the end of the course. I…I was the lucky one for that particular course."

His bitterness over the experience was evident in his voice.

She felt him shrug. "I went to her apartment….said she wanted to discuss the paper we were required to write to pass the course…she offered me wine, which I had never had before," she felt him shake his head again, "I was blasted before I halfway through the glass."

He stopped and sighed. "I don't remember much more…just that it ended the way one would expect for a 17 year old who had never been with a girl before."

He paused again for a moment. "The rest of the summer was torture. It was probably the only course I ever considered not finishing…but I did. Ironically, she was a good teacher.

Again Vala felt him exhale a hollow, disdainful laugh. "I just didn't learn from her what I should have about being wary of pretty girls wanting to be close to me; all I learned was to crave those sensations."

He sighed heavily. "A month or so after Barbara's course ended…just after my second year started I found myself getting involved with a girl in a first year Sociology course I was taking. I figured if I could go slow it would work…she was closer to my age and didn't seem as…umm… experienced as Barbara."

His voice lowered again. "I was so wrong. She was almost worse than Barbara, who at least didn't try to appear to be something she wasn't,"

He stopped for a moment, thinking, "Tina?…uhh yeah…that was it…Christina,"

Vala felt him shake his head. "She played me from the get go. Seems there was an unofficial kind of 'dare' element to the pledge challenge she had to meet to join the Sorority house she wanted…she had to get one of the campus scholarly types to fall for her, probably got bonus points too or something for getting into his pants," he released another sarcastic, disdainful laugh, "I was the lucky target again."

He lapsed into silence.

Vala pressed her cheek against him and tightened her arms around his waist. She understood so much now; his rejection and distrust of her flirting, his absolute refusal to engage in quick, 'no-strings-attached' tumbles in bed. She also understood that he was letting her in. Carefully, without removing her arms from his waist, she moved back into the space between him and the balcony railing, facing him. She tilted her head slightly to look at his face, half-hidden by shadows.

"Thank you." she said softly.

The acknowledgement she got was a quick, brief nod. Another minute of stillness had passed when she was aware of his arms uncrossing from his chest and then recrossing them around her, folding her into a close embrace. She tightened her own arms around his waist and nestled in against him. She was content for several minutes to savour his arms around her. Until curiosity forced the question from her.

"And…?"

"No 'and'. After that I buried myself in my studies and didn't really look up again until Sarah walked into my office."

He was quiet for a few moments, one hand drifting lightly down her back to stop just below her waist on the upper slope of her rear. His hand began its' slow glide upwards as he resumed speaking.

"Was never really wary of Sarah…it did puzzle me at first though why she was so enthused by my work, but we worked together so we shared a lot of interests and it just seemed kinda natural to drift into a relationship with her," he let go another short, humourless laugh, "during that whole Osiris manipulating my dreams incident though I came to realize that Sarah and I didn't drift into anything, she'd been guiding us into what she wanted from the beginning."

His hand continued to softly stroke over her back. "…and even though she was getting what she wanted and she was more than a little in love with me, I still managed to lose her because I wasn't paying attention."

There was another long pause. His next words held that faint ache.

"I lost Sha're too because I wasn't paying attention," his hand moved to tip her face up to his, "and you…" he studied her for a moment, tracing her jaw with a soft finger.  
He sighed and shook his head. "You…I've screwed up and lost you so many times I'm amazed I keep getting another chance."

Closing his eyes, he sighed again, "I can't do that anymore Vala. I can't take the chance that I'll screw up again and lose you permanently."

His eyes opened and even in the faint illumination from the city she could see the intense sincerity in them.

His entire hand moved to cradle her face. "All I wanted to do tonight was show you the love and caring you deserve - that you've never had from anyone else, so when I do neglect you or if someone who doesn't bore you comes along I'll at least have a fighting chance because I give you what no one else has."

Speechless, Vala stared at him, barely able to see through the curtain of tears in her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they kept flowing. Finally she shut her eyes and let them spill down her face. Leaning into his hand on her cheek, she raised her own to cover it, her free hand reaching blindly to bring his mouth down to hers. At the touch of his lips she wound both arms around his neck and pressed herself to him, kissing him with tender passion. She drew away, pulling a moan of loss from him as they parted. Without breaking eye contact with him, she undid his robe and pulled it open. Sliding her arms inside his robe to snake around his waist, she leaned into him, curves molding into angles like puzzle pieces. The love and desire on his face still made words for her almost impossible.

"Come back to bed," was all she could manage in a hoarse whisper.

His response was to cup his hands under her rear and nudge upwards. She took the hint. Pushing up on the balls of her feet as he lifted she went up into his arms, her legs encircling his waist. She looped her arms around his neck, her fingers combing through his hair and leaned in to catch his mouth with hers.

It took Daniel a minute to find his balance before he could start the walk back to the bedroom. He found himself swerving into the wall outside the study door when Vala's mouth moved from his to settle over the pulse point below his ear.

He laughed softly. "Shouldn't do that when I'm carrying you Val, I might drop you."

"You wouldn't drop me," she murmured against his neck, her tongue moving in small pushing strokes over his pulse point.

Biting back a groan, he managed to right himself, shifting his arms just enough to let her drop a fraction of an inch.

With a squeak of surprise she pulled back from him, leaning against his hands that were once again firmly supporting her, to glare at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "I warned you."

She regarded him for a brief moment then a seductive smile spread across her face and she moved her hips from side to side.

"Mmmm…that's okay," she said, nuzzling at his neck again, "I like this spot," she repeated the side to side motion again, "I can feel you against me."

The brush of soft skin over him made it hard to breathe. His earlobe being sucked between her lips and flicked at with her tongue didn't help either. He swayed into the wall again.

"Vala", he muttered in a low voice halfway between a growl and a groan, "just behave until we make it back to the bed, okay?"

Her response was to slide her mouth back to his, tracing the outline of his lips with her tongue, sucking and tugging lightly on his full bottom lip, sliding her tongue across his like velvet. His eyes closed of their own volition and he silently hoped there was nothing on the floor he could trip over.

At the bed he eased her to the surface on her knees. She unwound her arms from his neck, trailing them down the length of his body while she separated her mouth from his, delicately letting the edge of her teeth scrape slowly over his bottom lip as she pulled away. Licking his lips, he opened his eyes. Her face was only inches from his and she was regarding him with smoky eyes.

"Can I misbehave now?" she breathed, the path her hands had been taking downward ended and one hand wrapped around him, caressing in long, firm strokes.

"I think you already are." he said hoarsely.

He heard her soft laughter and then he began to lose track of everything except her hands on him. The urge to simply give into the waves of pleasure rolling over him was overwhelming. When she replaced her hand with her mouth, he managed to grab what was left of rapidly disappearing coherent thought. He shoved his hands into her hair, pulling her away and tilting her face up to his.

"That's not what I want." he said roughly.

She straightened, smirking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Liar."

"Well…okay…yeah…but it's not what I want right _now_."

She slid her arms inside his robe again, pressing her body to his.

"So what is it you do want right now, Daniel?" she purred, rubbing herself against him.

Long practice at not giving into her temptations was the only thing that kept him from succumbing completely at that moment. With a hard sigh he removed her arms from around his waist and took a step back.

"For you to move further back."

Grinning, Vala scooted backwards. She settled into the pillows behind her, vividly aware of Daniel's eyes on her. She didn't even try to resist the temptation to tease him. Grasping the hem of her t-shirt in her hands, she slowly lifted garment up and off her torso. Without taking her eyes off him she dropped the shirt to the floor. She leaned back into the pillows and deliberately folded her arms behind her head, knowing that the position pulled her breasts up into full roundness, and bent one knee up, letting her legs part slightly to give him tantalizing glimpses of moist, pink flesh. The sight of him licking his lips, his gaze flickering between her breasts and her legs brought a smug smile to her lips.

The sight though, of him easing his robe off his shoulders and dropping it to the floor made her breath catch. She hadn't been paying close attention the first time he'd dropped his garment, he had been moving too quickly and she'd been too intent on having him inside her to really focus on him. Now seeing him openly naked, her mouth-watered. Long, lean legs merged into equally lean hips. A faint strip of dark-gold furring led her eyes up from the cluster of dark-gold curls between his legs to a flat, hard stomach which widened into a broad, muscular chest and shoulders. She raised her eyes to his as he laid down beside her.

"You know those Greek gods pictured in your reference books?" she asked, dropping her gaze to roam over him.

"Umm, yeah. What about them?"

Vala looked up at him and closed any space that remained between them.

"They're nothing compared to you." she purred, pressing herself against him.

The pink that flooded his face made her giggle with delight.

She put a hand to his cheek. "Daniel, you are too sweet. You've got this amazing body, but when I tell you that you blush like a little boy."

Her choice of words made his eyebrows go up and he scowled at her.

"Vala," he almost growled, "I'm not one though."

Smirking, she slid her hands down his body to stroke him with long, firm movements.

"That, my darling Daniel, is patently obvious."

His next movement was so rapid it took her a minute to register that she was flat on her back, and he was hovering over her with her hands securely pinned under his.

"Nope, we're gonna go slow this time and really enjoy this."

Vala leaned up against his hands to close the space between them.

"Oh I enjoyed myself the first time," she murmured, running her tongue along the curve of his throat.

She eased away to watch him as she shifted her body, and looped her legs around his waist.

"And I'm pretty sure you did too." she said, grinning in triumphant as he slid between her legs, his tip barely brushing against her flesh.

A slight increase of pressure from his hands forced her mouth further from his neck and he changed his position enough to put a little more space between them.

"Vala, stop the seductress act okay," he scolded gently, "you don't have to do that. I'm right here…you've got me."

"It's who I am." she said tightly, trying to rub her body on his.

He shook his head. "No it isn't. It isn't who you are _here_," he dropped a soft kiss on the upper slope of her breast just above her heart.

He raised his gaze back to her, looking intently into her eyes. "It's not the woman you show me when we're alone, it's certainly not the woman trying to ease the pain of a little girl who's just lost her mother, and it's definitely not the woman I'm in love with."

Vala closed her eyes against the sudden sting of tears. She felt his lips at each corner of her eyes and his voice was like velvet.

"So just let me do this the way I intended the first time hmm," he began placing butterfly kisses across her face and down her throat, "the way you deserve."

She wanted to twist away from him and remind of him of all the reasons she didn't deserve this, but losing herself again in the sheer physical pleasure of having him inside her was far less difficult. She let herself relax under his caresses and let him have his way.

Daniel continued the kisses downward pausing at her breasts to lightly tongue and suck at each nipple until they were stiff peaks. Soft whimpers of pleasure from the back of her throat made him smile against her skin. He resumed moving down, savouring the taste and scent of her skin. Gradually his hands eased away from hers, gliding over the baby-fine skin on the inside of her arms as he kissed a path across her belly into the patch of dark curls between her legs. It took a minute or two for him to notice beyond the sensations he was drowning in; the heady musk of her arousal, the soft, lushness of her breasts under his hands, that she had tensed up and the murmurs of pleasure he was becoming addicted to had stopped.

He levered himself up on his hands and looked at her.

"Something wrong?"

Nibbling at her inside of her bottom lip, she leaned up towards him.

"I need the bathroom." she said softly.

Daniel's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Oh…um, yeah…ahh, okay,"

He rolled away, watching her thoughtfully as she walked out of the room.

Vala returned a few minutes later. The image she was presented with made her stop in the doorway. Daniel, still deliciously unclothed and fully aroused had settled back against the pillows, his arms folded behind his head, his eyes closed. He looked like he belonged in the Playgirl magazines Vala had talked Sam into buying on their last girls-night. She padded towards the bed, unsure that he wasn't falling asleep. Which wouldn't have surprised her given how late it was. She was within a step or two from the bed when his hand drifted down from behind his head to stroke himself. Vala had to bite back a groan. He definitely wasn't falling asleep. Grinning wickedly, she quietly took the last steps to the bed. Moving to straddle him, she lifted his hand back up to the pillow where she laced her hands into both of his to balance herself.

"Here, let me help you with that." she murmured, lowering herself onto him.

His eyes flew open. "Vala."

"You were expecting someone else?" she teased, leaning down to nuzzle at his throat.

"No, no, course not…you…just took me by surprise is all."

"Then I'll have to make sure Cameron knows how useful his stealth training exercises were." she snickered softly, lightly tracing the outside edge of his ear with her tongue.

"Just…just don't," he paused his speech catching as she flicked and nipped at his earlobe, "tell how…uh…you…you reached…conclusion…hmm?"

Laughing, she started a line of gentle sucking kisses down his neck.

"Vala…"he squirmed under her, trying to shift their positions, but only succeeded in sliding deeper into her.

His breath stuttered. "Oh God…." he trailed off.

She stopped briefly at the base of his neck to rub her tongue hard against his rapidly beating pulse.

He shifted under her again. "Val…" his voice came out like a soft groan, "don't…want."

He seemed to lose his train of speech as she started the line of kisses up the other side of his neck.

The slight pushing movements he started making into her made her smirk against his skin.

"Don't lie darling." she began nipping at the underside of his jaw, "you're hard as a rock…you want this very badly."

"Not…this way," came out in a groan, as his pushing movements increased.

"No, but it's what I want." she said, softly grazing her lips over his, "and if your intention was to please me," she paused tracing his mouth with her tongue, "then rest assured," she tugged lightly at his bottom lip, "this pleases me just fine. Now hush." she finished by catching his lip fully between hers and sucking against it.

The only response she got was a breathy hum of agreement. Slowly she drew away, letting the edge of her teeth drag over the inside of his lip as she let go. His body shivered and he shifted his angle slightly to push into her more insistently. She rolled her hips into meet his, setting a rhythm between them that steadily increased. His eyes opened. Fascinated by the way they were becoming more and more sapphire which each movement, she barely noticed his hands tightening on hers to push her up into a sitting position. The angle of their connection changed. She couldn't stop from exhaling a heavy groan . Lacing her hands into his again, she increased the pace between them. Breath quickly became laboured, their rhythm short and fast. All the tempting, teasing and taunting that had gone on in the previous two hours suddenly hit flashpoint.

Daniel surged up towards her, one arm supporting himself, one hand plowing into her hair to catch her mouth to his in a short, ravaging kiss. He quickly released her, his hand dropping to her hip holding her tight against his rough, urgent thrusts. He bent this head to her breast, sucking the nipple against the roof of his mouth and flicked his tongue over it, drawing his name from her with a note of want that sent a spike of heat through his groin. For a split second his thrusts faltered then became hard and almost uncontrolled. He pulled his mouth away from her breast, exhaling heavily against her skin.

"Ahhh," he thrust roughly into her, clutching at her hip, "God, Vala…love you," he groaned, shuddering against her.

The sensation of him spasming deep inside her hit like a lightening strike. A sweet buzz enveloped her. Shaking and trembling she slumped forward into his embrace, panting out his name. She felt his arms close around her and the warm vibration of his voice murmuring near her ear. He eased them down to the bed, aftershocks rippling through them as they shifted positions.

For several minutes she lay still, listening to their breathing and heartbeats quiet into a gentle rhythm. She had taken part in the physical act of sex a lot in her life, but the sense of being loved and cared for that came from this particular man scared her in its intensity. She was almost afraid to move, afraid doing so would shatter the bubble of warmth and security she felt encased in. His voice, soft in her ear brought her back to reality.

"I'm slipping Val, we need to move or one of us will be sleeping in a wet," he stopped talking suddenly.

His next word got her complete attention.

"Crap."

She pushed herself up on her hands to look at him. The slight frown on his face made her heart clench..

"What?" she asked warily.

With a heavy sigh he slung an arm over his eyes. "I suddenly realized we may have a wet spot because I forgot the condoms…both times."

"Daniel, it's really not a big deal…so we'll just change the sheets."

He took his arm away from his eyes, looking at her in mild surprise.

"Vala, that's not the issue."

She shook her head uncertainly.

His look of surprise deepened. "The condoms would be to keep you from getting pregnant."

Her eyes widened. "Oh…right."

She suddenly dropped her gaze to the middle of his chest.

"Would that be so awful?" she asked, tilting a hesitant glance up at him.

His expression softened and he stroked her hair back from her face.

"No, not awful, just too soon."

A small wry smile tugged at his mouth. "The others already consider us to be childish enough together as it is, without adding a real child."

She laughed softly and laid her head back down on his chest.

"Good thing it's not an issue then."

"Right, because, " he stopped in mid-thought, "wait…what?"

He lifted her face towards him.

"What do you mean it's not an issue?"

She grinned at him. "I believe I'm taking a pill that makes it not an issue."

He studied her for a moment, then nodded as he closed his eyes.

"Yeah, of course. Stuart. I'm impressed that you thought to take that precaution when you started seeing him."

Vala watched him. Something she couldn't quite identify had flickered in his eyes just before he closed them. Hurt? Disappointment? Jealousy? Whatever it was, shutting his eyes had obviously been a ploy to keep her from seeing how he felt about her being with other men. In the past she probably would have teased him about being jealous, she probably would in the future, but not at present.

"Daniel. " she said softly, tapping a finger on his chest.

An eyelid lifted and he regarded her with one blue eye.

"My taking them had nothing to do with Stuart."

The eyebrow above the open eye went up.

"Or anybody else." she added.

Both blue eyes opened to look at her in puzzlement

"After Adria was born, " she paused, suddenly inexplicably embarrassed.

Shrugging she laid her head back down on his chest. "Well things didn't go back to normal for me, so Carolyn gave me pills that solved the problem."

When he didn't respond, she glanced up at him. He was gazing at her with a crease of thought between his eyes.

"What?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Don't know. I can't shake the feeling that we've had this conversation before."

Vala pushed herself up on her arms to view their current position.

"Ah no, I think we'd both remember this,"

She suddenly stopped talking, raised her eyes to his, and starting giggling instead.

He shook his head. "You know if you hadn't shifted."

"S…sorry," she managed around laughter, "guess we do need to change the sheet now."

Shrugging he closed his eyes. "Nah, it'll be fine."

She pushed herself further off him. "Oh, it will?

One eye opened and he smirked at her. "Yeah, it's on your side of the bed."

She gaped at him. "What? It is not."

"Is," he closed the open eye and folded his arms behind his head, the smirk on his face deepening.

She smacked his chest. "Is not."

He chuckled. "Is."

"Isn't," she sat up completely to survey the situation, "because we're in the middle of the bed."

He shrugged again without opening his eyes. "Still my bed."

"And your point?"

He smiled smugly, "My bed, my rules."

She gazed at him. That Playgirl pose again. Grinning wickedly she leaned down, catching his hands under hers.

"Ya know Daniel," she purred, nuzzling along his throat, "you're very tempting like this. If I wasn't so tired I'd start round three."

There was a moments pause. His voice in a low, seductive tone, near her ear sent a shiver down her spine.

"And if I wasn't so tired, I'd let you."

She raised her head to meet his gaze. Crystal blue eyes regarded her with warmth and intent. She tilted her mouth up to his in a long, soft kiss. Stifling the need to yawn, Vala pulled away.

Daniel grinned at her. "Guess we should change that sheet and get some sleep, hmm?"

Yawning again, Vala could only nod.

**Next Morning**

The ringtone of his phone brought Daniel out of a dead sleep to a swath of Vala's silky dark hair spread across his chest, her breath soft on his skin and his bedroom brilliant with sunshine. He managed after a brief struggle to bring the phone to his ear around the sixth ring.

He barely got "Jackson." out through a dry mouth before a familiar voice exploded in his ear.

"Daniel? Where the hell are you? Carter's due out on the Daedalus in less than two hours and if you're not here she may never forgive you…hell I may never forgive you."

"Wha?…Jack?…wait…what time is it?"

Daniel pulled his arm from around Vala to reach for his glasses and his watch. He rubbed at his eyes as he slid the glasses on, trying to focus on the watch in his hand. It had been a long time, he'd forgotten how completely sex could turn his brain off.

"It's almost noon," Jack answered just as Daniel's bleary eyes found the time on his watch.

"Crap." Daniel tilted his head to cradle the phone between his ear and his shoulder while he fastened his watch around his wrist, "Yeah okay, we'll be there shortly."

There was a brief pause before Jack's voice came back quieter, but definitely amused.

" 'We' Daniel? So can I assume then that Sam was right about Vala spending last night with you?"

Daniel swung out of bed, answering hesitantly as he crossed the room to his dresser.

"Uh…yeah, she…she did."

There was another pause before Jack responded with sincere affection.

"Nice Daniel."

Stunned by Jack's unexpected reply Daniel fumbled for words.

"Wait…what? That's it? No leering, gutterish guy to guy comment?

"Well no, not right now. I'm just happy for ya. I know how much ya've struggled with this."

Daniel paused in pulling a pair of jeans from the bottom dresser drawer.

"Thanks Jack. I appreciate the unexpected level of maturity."

Jack cleared his throat. "Yes well, you're welcome, but don't get used to it. I'm pretty sure you'll get it with both barrels the first time I see you unable to keep your hands off her."

"No doubt I will," Daniel muttered, shutting the drawer with his foot as he took socks and underwear from another drawer, "still your restraint is admirable."

"Yes I know. Now would ya hang up and get the hell in here. Carter's about ready to string ya up."

"Yup, on our way. I just wanna grab a quick shower first."  
Daniel flipped the phone closed, tucking it into the pocket of the jeans in his hand as he turned to find Vala sitting up in bed, an arm resting on the knee cocked up under the bedding that was pooled around her waist.

"Uh, h..hi, good…good morning," he stammered, trying to not focus on the bare, soft curves that his brain was insisting he needed to touch.

"Good morning," she replied with a gentle smile.

He could almost feel himself flushing under the intensity of her gaze. The sudden sense of being vulnerable and exposed before her was odd given they had been naked together since the early morning hours. He had forgotten that while being naked with a person in the heat of passion required one level of intimacy, allowing oneself to be exposed without clothes to that same person beyond the heat of passion required a whole other level of trust and intimacy.

"Umm," he started, fidgeting a little with the clothes in his hand, "we're running late, but I need to grab a quick shower first okay?"

"Could we share a shower?" she asked getting out of bed and walking towards him.

He couldn't pull his eyes away from the motion of her body as she crossed the room to where he stood. She stopped directly in front of him, sleep-tousled hair, inky dark against her porcelain skin, spilling over her shoulders, only just reaching the satin tips of her breasts. He tightened his grasp around the clothes in his hand to resist the urge to brush the hair aside so he could watch the nipples harden under his touch. Clenching his other hand to keep himself from grabbing her and pulling her back to bed like the little voice in his head was telling him to, he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Given our time constraints I'm not sure that's a great idea Vala."

"Please Daniel? I was too tired last night to clean myself afterward like I would normally."

He opened his eyes to meet her completely open and guileless blue-grey gaze.

"Fine," he sighed heavily, "but we gotta agree to keep our hands to ourselves because if we start touching each other we won't be going anywhere."

She nodded with a happy smile. "Okay I can do that."

Then her smile became her trademark seductive smirk and she laid a hand on his chest.

"Can you?"

With a wink she pivoted away from him, out the door and down the hall to the bathroom.


	9. Mid July 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will stay "M" for the duration of this story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: About a month after the previous chapter...she has moved in.

There is mention of Daniel's b-day... so his age changes to 43.

For those questionning whether Daniel would go this fast...his history suggests that once he knows the woman is interested he really doesn't hesitate...and in Vala's case, he's been wanting this relationship with her for so long I came to the conclusion that he'd be jumping in with both feet.

Oh and for anyone who didn't get what was going on with him during their first dinner date...there's an explanation in this chapter.

Also I've been visiting the profiles of the lovely people wanting to read this story and while I recognize most of the names(other authors that I've been enjoying) there are two or three that have me intrigued...the person either has no real affiliation with Stargate OR the person is not a usual reader of DV pieces...if you fall into either of these categories I love to hear from you...privately is fine...'cuz I'd really like to know why you've decided you want to keep reading this.

#

**Mid July/08**

In the silence after whispered words of love and ragged groans of completion, they laid replete and sated by the other's passion. A single bedside lamp cast a pool of light over them; Vala, sprawled on her stomach, exactly as she had lifted herself off him, one arm draped across his belly, her hand tracing random patterns up and down his side; Daniel, on his back, an arm slung across the pillow by her head, his fingers gently combing through her hair, his other hand resting on her shoulder. Reluctantly Vala opened her eyes, tilting her head to glance at the clock on the dresser.

"Take me back?" she murmured.

First she felt him shake his head, then he answered, his voice thick and lazy, "Nope, don't have the energy. I'm old, you've worn me out."

She gave his chest a gentle swat, "Funny Daniel," she paused, "please."

Shifting away from her onto his side, he leaned up on his elbow to look at her intently.

"You know, there's never been any reason for you to keep going back every 3 or 4 days. I want to have you here when I wake up every day, not just some days."

She looked at him for a moment, then moved off the bed to dress.

"Vala," he prompted, "as long as you're honest with me you know you can say anything you need to."

She shrugged as she picked up her jeans, "I've always had a problem with confinement, you know that."

"And you find being here with me confining?" he couldn't keep the trace of hurt out of his voice.

"I need to be on my own sometimes. This is your place, so there's no space here for me to do that."

"Ah…so we need to find a new place for both of us…a house maybe?"

His words stopped her as she did up the buttons on her shirt. A house. A brief, faint memory of the quiet safety of her mother's house flashed through her mind, followed by the memory of the bewildering sudden switch to the fearful chaos of her stepmother's. Furiously blinking back the tears that had suddenly welled up in her eyes she finished doing up her shirt. Unable to say anything around the odd mixture of longing and fear clogging her throat, she simply nodded.

**A week later**

Cam turned away from the coffee machine, sipping at a fresh, full mug of the fragrant liquid. Vala's presence alone at a table in the back corner of the commissary startled him. He sauntered over.

"Hey there," he greeted, taking the chair on the other side of the table.

Vala looked up from the pie she'd been poking at.

"Oh, Cameron! I didn't know you were here. Thought you were involved in getting SG-10 out of that mudslide."

"Was," he gestured at his grime-caked BDUs, "just waitin' for them to finish in the showers."

Vala flicked a glance at the state of his uniform. "Hopefully that's soon."

Cam nodded as he took a mouthful of coffee. "Yeah I know, this stuff's startin' to smell."

"I noticed," she said with a grimace, turning her attention back to the rather large piece of cherry pie in front of her.

Cam sat back in his chair, cradling the warm mug in his cold, dirty hands. After a minute of watching Vala toy with the dessert he leaned forward, carefully resting his mud-streaked arms on the table.

"Ya know I'm kinda surprised to see you here too. Thought you and Jackson woulda gone home hours ago."

Vala suddenly carved off a forkful of pie.  
"He did." she popped the pastry and fruit into her mouth.

"But you didn't?" Cam's eyebrows went up in disbelief.

Her mouth full of pie Vala only shook her head.

"Uh, how come?" he asked, watching her push her fork down through another chunk of pie.

She stabbed what she'd cut off. Raising it to her mouth and her eyes to meet his, she smirked.

"Oh well Cameron, you know, a girl needs her beauty sleep." she said airily, finishing with a wink.

Cam shook his head, not sure he wanted to ask the next question.

"Uh Vala, what does that mean?"

Vala's smirk deepened. "I'm just not getting enough uninterrupted sleep is all."

It only took a moment, then he squinted at her. "Are you implyin' what I think you are?"

Her smirk became a cheeky grin and she nodded. "Can't decide whether it's me he can't get enough of or if he's trying to make up for not getting much in the last seven years."

Cam gaped at her. He tried to tune out what she was saying about flat surfaces. The mention of the kitchen table was more than he could take.

He waved his hands in between them to stop her. "Whoa, Vala….just whoa! That qualifies as too much information…matter-a-fact this whole conversation qualifies as way, way too much information."

Shrugging, she pushed the plate of half-eaten pie away from her and stood up.

"Oh well, I'm done here anyway. Good night, Cameron."

She was almost halfway across the room before Cam registered her departure.

"Night, Vala." didn't even make it out of his mouth before she was pushing the door open.

Uneasy, he watched the door swing shut behind her. In the two years she'd been with them, they had all learned her defense mechanisms. Slipping into an innuendo laden conversation was an instantly recognizable ploy. One that she hadn't used in quite awhile. She was more likely to evade and deny there was anything bothering her than hide behind the façade Jackson hated the most.

Cam stared thoughtfully at the doors as he finished his coffee. He had no idea what might be going on in her less than orthodox mind. He just hoped Jackson did.

Several days later

"Afternoon, Jackson."

Daniel shot a glance over the top of his glasses at Cameron Mitchell strolling into his office.

"Mitchell," he returned the greeting while his attention remained focused on the chunk of stone he was trying to clean.

Peripheral vision told him the Colonel had stopped at the end of the worktable and was watching intently as he carefully prodded centuries of dirt out of the intricately-carved rock.

"Ya know, every time I watch you do that I half-expect a hologram of a woman asking Obi-Wan for help to appear."

Daniel snorted a laugh. "Clearly you've watched Star Wars too many times."

Cameron shrugged. "Yeah well, you know how that goes with Teal'c around."

Daniel cast a look of amusement at his friend. "Indeed."

Cam chuckled in response, then subsided into silence while he watched Daniel soak the rock with liquid to soften the dirt.

"Something on your mind?" Daniel asked after a few minutes.

Cameron's shoulders moved in a hesitant shrug. "Ah…sorta…not really…haven't seen much of ya since your birthday so I thought I'd stop by while I'm waitin' for the bunch of SG1 wannabes I had off-world to be done in the infirmary."

Daniel put the rock under the lit magnifier.

"How's that going anyway?" he asked prodding at the dirt again.

"Uh okay. Banks should be a satisfactory replacement for you."

Daniel glanced over at him. "Should hope so. I trained him."

"Yeah, _and_ on top of that he's a decent shot too."

Daniel shook his head with a grimace. "Right, which is such an important skill for an archeologist to have."

"Hey, in this job it is."

Daniel huffed a small laugh, "Good point," he turned his attention back to the rock, "How 'bout Captain Ferguson?"

"She's got Sam's smarts that's for sure, but she doesn't have the same field experience. Can't see making her my second at this point. Probably leave Teal'c with that role…damn glad I don't hafta replace him yet."

Daniel set the rock back onto the small tray to saturate it with liquid again.

"Gonna replace Vala?"

Mitchell emitted a dry laugh. "Could never replace Vala, Jackson, she's one of a kind."

Daniel chuckled. "That she is."

"Speakin' of Vala, uh…"

When Cameron didn't immediately finish his statement, Daniel looked over at him. The uncertainty on his face was worrying.

Daniel put down the bottle of liquid and the small blunt-tipped tool he was using to prod away the dirt.

"What did she do?" he asked warily.

"Well," Mitchell drawled, "she didn't do anything, but we had a very weird conversation a few nights ago and…"

With a sigh Daniel straightened to his full height and folded his arms across his chest.

"And?" he prompted in a tight voice.

Mitchell threw a quick glance at him, then began to fiddle with a small book sitting near his hand on the table.

"I just got wonderin' is all…if you guys are…uh…you know…um…okay?" he paused in his examination of the book cover to shoot a glance at his friend.

Daniel looked back down at his task, idly rubbing at the rock.

"Uh yeah…mostly," he shrugged, "there's a few issues about two adults used to being on their own living in an apartment together, but if we can find a house, then we should uh…be good."

He picked up the small tool again, giving his friend a quick glance.

Flicking through the book Cam nodded. "Uh good…glad to hear that."

Putting the book down he looked over at Daniel who was again intent on clearing the softened dirt out of the rock.

"So ya found a place you like yet?

"Uh no. I'm finding the whole process kinda confusing actually."

Cam nodded. "Yeah, all those weird abbreviations."

Daniel looked over at him. "No that's not it. I've bought a house before so I know how to read the ads. It's Vala I'm finding confusing."

Cameron snorted a laugh, "Jackson, she's been confusin' you since day one."

Daniel straightened, his forehead creasing. "Yeah well, I thought I'd learned how to read her, but with this house thing I'm not so sure anymore. I have no idea what she wants. And I can't get her to tell me. We've looked at two or three places. Each one she was thrilled about at first, but when I ask her about them later she just says they don't 'feel right'…whatever the hell that means."

Cam shrugged, "Guess she hasn't seen the one yet that feels like home. Cousin of mine looked at houses with his wife for six months before they found the one she said felt like home"

Expelling a long breath, Daniel looked closely at the rock before placing it in the tray next to a second one that was as dirty as the first one had been.

"Hope that's all is it…Vala being evasive makes me nervous."

"Maybe," Cam paused to dig a folded piece of paper out his jacket pocket, "this one'll feel right."

Daniel swiped the grimy tips of his latex enclosed fingers across his pants before taking the offered paper. He shook open a computer print-out of a house listing. He studied it, shooting a quick glance at Mitchell.

"Nice. Where is it?"

"A few streets from my building. I saw it last week when I was out running. Thought that you'd like that it's got a little more character than the new developments."

"Uh yeah, I do. Thanks." he looked over at his friend, "Can I keep this?"

Cameron nodded. "Sure."

The PA system crackled at that moment, summoning the Colonel to a conference room.

"And that's my cue," he said moving towards the door.

Daniel nodded absently as he studied the house listing, "Yeah, okay. See ya."

"You bet."

It only took a moment after Cameron left for Daniel to peel off his latex gloves. A few moments after that he was clicking through the online MLS listing for a 3 bedroom Craftsmen style home.

**Late July/08**

Vala slung her arms around Daniel's shoulders, nuzzling at the crook of his neck

"Are you watching this movie with me?"

"Uhh," the rapid tapping of the ankh-shaped letter opener against the desktop stopped, "no. Actually we need to talk."

"Must we?" she breathed against his skin, letting her hands roam downward, her palms brushing lightly over the fine sun-burnished hairs on his arms. "I'm sure we can find something else to do if we're not watching the movie," her hands settled on his belt buckle.

He put down the letter he had been reading to pull her hands away from undoing his belt.

"Stop," he said tightly, "And yes, we must."

"About what?" she murmured planting barely-there kisses up his neck.

"This house thing."

She rested her forehead in the curve of his neck and sighed. "Do we really have to decide which one tonight?"

"Umm yes…I mean no, not which one per se, but we need to decide if we're going to do this now or not."

He picked up the letter he had been reading moments earlier. "This is from the company that owns this building."

Vala lifted her head, resting her chin on his shoulder to view the paper in his fingers. She cast a quick sideways glance at him as he spoke again.

"It's a reminder letter that my lease expires at the end of November, and if I intend to renew I have to let them know by the end of August. So the quicker we decide if we're doing this the better. I mean if we decide we want one of these," he gestured at the three house listing printouts to one side of the desk, "we could conceivably have a closing date and a moving date before the end of August."

Vala stared at the movement of his mouth. She knew she was supposed to be listening to him but it was far more pleasant to think about his soft, sensuous lips against her skin than the knot forming in her stomach. It took her a minute to realize he'd stopped talking and was looking at her out of the corner of his eye, one eyebrow tilted upwards.

"And you haven't heard a word I just said have you?"

She flashed a fake, sweet smile, patting his shoulder as she stood up to leave the room. "Of course I have Daniel, even the more tedious ones."

He followed her to the kitchen.

"Tedious Vala? So…so what? You find the concept of creating a home together tedious?

Vala pivoted to face him, a wineglass clasped in one hand, eyes wide in shock at how quickly this conversation was going bad.

Shaking her head, she grasped for words to soothe him.

"No...no, that's not what I meant."

He folded his arms across his chest. "Then what?"

"I…I just meant the tiny details is all," she shrugged sheepishly, "Look Daniel, I don't know anything about buying houses. Whatever you want to do is fine."

He shook his head, "No, it's not fine Vala. That's not the way this works. This is your life too. Our tastes, not surprisingly, are different. I refuse to make a choice based on my preferences and have to listen to you bitch about it for the next twenty years."

Vala's throat went dry and the knot in her stomach suddenly seemed to expand into her chest.

"Tw…twenty years?" she choked.

Daniel shrugged, "Okay fine, there's nothing to say we couldn't move more than once in those…."

"Twenty years!" Vala stared at him

A smirk tugged at his mouth. "Well I figure as long as we don't kill each other in the first year we should be able to…" he trailed off as her disbelief registered.

His brow furrowing, he stared back at her in deepening horror.

Pressing his mouth into a grim line, he shook his head.

"You never intended a permanent commitment, did you?"

He took a step back, his brow creasing further. "What were you going to give me Vala?" his voice rose in anger, "A year or two. Five maybe and then you'd be off looking for a new conquest?"

He glared at her, his face tight with anger. "God. I don't believe this! You…you are such an actress," his eyes screwed shut and his hands clenched, "and I'm such a desperate fool, I fell for it!"

His eyes opened, pinning her with a cold, blue rage, "Congratulations Vala, you actually managed to con your way into my bed."

Vala watched him stalk out of the room, paralyzed by how quickly all her fears were coming true.

The slam of the apartment door echoed in her ears, in her soul and into the darkness of a night spent alone.

Next day - Lunch

"ValaMalDoran."

Vala looked up at Teal'c's large muscular frame. She beamed at him.

"Hiya Muscles."

He gestured at the table with his food-laden tray. "May I join you?"

She waved open-handed at that other chairs. "Sure help yourself."

The Jaffa deposited his lunch on the table, taking the chair across from her. He eyed the tray before her that held only an empty Oreo cookie wrapper. He met her eyes with his, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You have not consumed much at this meal. Are you unwell?"

She grinned at him. "Oh I'm just peachy Muscles, but ya know a girl's gotta watch her figure. And how are you?"

Her abrupt change of topic and brilliant smile didn't fool him for a moment.

"Unfortunately, I am unwell."

Her smile faded. "Oh I'm sorry to hear that Muscles. What seems to be the problem?"

He put down the roll he had been buttering and leaned towards her.

"Two of my closest friends are at odds with each other."

Vala's smile vanished. She dropped her gaze to her tray to fidget with the plastic wrapper.

She shrugged. "That's how it goes sometimes Teal'c…things fall apart."

He leaned closer, his deep bass voice seemed to drop even lower.

"I watched these same friends together for almost 50 years and things did not fall apart."

Vala raised startled blue-grey eyes to him. She considered the implications of his words for a moment then shook her head.

"Different time, different place."

"Perhaps, but my friends are not different nor are their feelings for each other."

Blinking rapidly against a sudden welling of hot tears Vala couldn't say anything. She made a quick negative movement with her head.

Teal'c watched her shredding the wrapper into bits. "I do not know how things fell apart, but I do know you must put those things back together."

She looked up at him. "Why Teal'c? So we can both be devastated when it really does fall apart for good, as it is bound to."

Teal'c frowned. "I do not understand ValaMalDoran, DanielJackson is a steadfast and honourable man. He would not just let 'things fall apart'."

Vala poked at the bits of the cookie wrapper scattered over her tray.

"It wouldn't be Daniel, Teal'c. It would be me. My life has a way of reversing itself every few years. Daniel ruining my effort to steal the Prometheus and then screwing up the naquadah deal was pretty much how badly things had been going for me at the time, then everything changed again when I arrived here….and now any day I thoroughly expect things to change again and I'll have to be off, running for my life."

Teal'c, who had all but abandoned his meal, was studying her intently.

"If you truly believe this then why have you allowed yourself to become involved with him?"

Vala sighed shakily, "For a little while I got to be a normal woman in love with a decent man instead of the social outcast I really am. I couldn't say no to what he was offering, but when he seemed to be so casually sure that we'd be still together in twenty years I was terrified for him…my life isn't going to allow that…I can't let myself be so selfish that he ends up being as destroyed by losing me as he was losing Sha're."

She looked up at him. "I can't do that Teal'c…I love him too much." she finished in a tight whisper.

"ValaMalDoran, you must talk to him about this."

Vala barked a harsh laugh. "Talk to him!" she shook her head, "No Teal'c. I'd never be able to say any of this to him…I start saying any of these words and his eyes will go all soft and tender and I'll start bawling, he'll wrap his arms around me and then I won't be able to say another coherent word because it's so much easier to escape into him and pretend that we lead a normal life."

"You know that you have already injured him by allowing him to think that you are committed to him?"

Shamefaced Vala looked back down at the table. "I realize that, but I figure if I let this die now then he won't be hurt any further."

"He will never forgive you."

"Until the universe dumps me on my ass again and I have to leave here, I'll just have to live with that."

"And in the meantime?"

Vala shrugged. "We don't work together anymore. I should be able to keep myself out of his way."

"This then is the course of action you are determined to follow?"

She took a deep breath and nodded.

Teal'c pushed his tray aside as he rose from his chair. "Very well then I shall speak to him."

Vala grabbed his arm as he turned to go. "Teal'c! No please!

He looked down at her.

"I am sorry ValaMalDoran, if you will not then I must. You have both lost much to choices you were not allowed to make for yourselves. I cannot allow you to make this choice for him."

Her hand still on his arm, Vala stood. "Fine. I'll talk to him."

She paused briefly, a faint wry smile flickered over her mouth. "I seem to recall Qetesh having a First Prime who was as stubborn as a rock too."

A corresponding smile touched Teal'c's mouth. "Indeed."

A short time later

Vala could find her way from the commissary to Daniel's office with her eyes closed. Which was a good thing because when she arrived at the office door she couldn't remember thinking about anything except how many different ways she could escape this conversation.

She stopped in the doorway, watching him. She was pretty sure he knew she was there. His writing had paused, the pen still poised over the paper and his entire being seemed to be waiting. She took a step into the room.

"Daniel?" a dryness in her throat made her voice catch.

"What?"

She had become so accustomed to his voice begin laced with warmth and affection, the hard edge she hadn't heard in a very long time hurt.

"Are you coming back to the apartment tonight?"

"Why? So we can play another round of the con artist and her mark?"

His belief that she was playing him made her wince.

"No, because I don't want a certain Jaffa to kick my ass."

Daniel's head came up and the crease between his eyes deepened in puzzlement

"Pardon?"

Vala waved her hands to dismiss her last statement.

"Never mind, just thought a little humour might lighten the mood."

He dropped his gaze back to the notepad he been writing on.

"Well it didn't and excuse me if I don't find anything humourous about the current situation Vala."

Plucking nervously at her shirt cuffs, she stepped closer to the workbench.

"I know there isn't. Look," she sighed, "can we just talk?"

He dropped his pen and pushed his fingers under his glasses to rub his eyes. After a moment he sat back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and regarded her, blue eyes cool and distant.

"David Banks asked for a working dinner tonight to discuss his assignment to SG-1. Convince me, you and I have anything left to say and I'll postpone it."

Daniel watched her eyes dart away from him and her teeth catch at her bottom lip. Still speechless after several moments, she gestured helplessly as she brought her gaze back to meet his.

He considered her. After a long moment he unfolded his arms and leaned forward in his chair expelling a long breath.

"Fine," he said dropping his attention back to his work, "1730 at the elevator."

Over the top of his glasses he saw a shaky smile as "okay" came out of her mouth in breathy relief. He lifted his head again as she disappeared into the hallway. A bare trace of her familiar slightly exotic perfume, the one every cell of his being knew, lingered in the air. He continued to stare at the door for several minutes after she left. He knew the instant he had caught the shimmer of tears in her eyes that he didn't have a hope. He had no defenses against her being uncertain and vulnerable. Turning his attention back to the report he was writing he shook his head. He was such an idiot for her.

**1730**

"What is that?" Daniel gestured at the bag in Vala's hands as the elevator doors closed.

Vala's gaze dropped from staring at the elevator doors to the item in her hands.

"Dinner." she stated.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

She nodded with a shrug. "I haven't eaten much since last night. I'm starving."

Daniel cast a sharp glance at her. Vala without an appetite was surprising. Her gaze slid over to him, caught his glance and then slid away.

She shrugged again. "And I figured given that your eating habits aren't the best to begin with you'd be hungry too so I persuaded Mary in the commissary to package up some of the lasagna from lunch for me."

She lapsed into silence, her gaze staying trained on the metal doors of the elevator. Standing beside and slightly behind her, he was vividly aware of the tension radiating off her. He was also vividly aware of the spicy tomato aroma that was making his stomach rumble. She was right. He hadn't eaten properly all day and he was hungry. The fact that she knew his habits and cared enough to make sure he got what he needed only deepened the aching sadness in his gut. After everything they had been through together, the struggle to learn to respect and trust each other, finding they could live together without killing each other, he couldn't understand why she still didn't want the life and home with him that he wanted with her. Sighing he closed his eyes against the burn of frustration at the back of them.

The elevator doors slid open. In silence they took the second elevator to the surface. The 20 minute drive to the apartment was also silent. By the time he followed her into the apartment he'd had enough. He was tired from not sleeping the night before because she hadn't been beside him. He was hungry having not eaten all day because his gut was so tied up in knots over her that the idea of food had been repulsive. Mostly though he was fed up. Fed up with the roller coaster ride of emotions she'd had him on for the previous two years and really fed up with the little voice in the back of his head scoffing over the notion that he could ever find any lasting happiness, even with an ex-thief.

Wearily, he dropped his keys and wallet on the top of the piano. Turning, he leaned back against the instrument, took off his glasses and scrubbed his hands over his face. He was done. He'd let her have her say, let her eat something, then would take her and whatever belongings she had in the apartment back to the base. He contemplated stopping on the way home to get a bottle of JD. Passing out drunk had gotten him through the first few nights alone after Abydos, maybe it would do the same this time. He wondered how quickly he could get a transfer to Atlantis; pick up where he'd been headed when she'd sashayed down the 'gate ramp.

Daniel slid his glasses back on, not at all surprised to find that she had emerged from the kitchen and was standing on the other side of the coffee table from him. He didn't need to see or hear her walk into a room, he could literally feel her presence. He studied her for a moment. The prospect of losing what they'd had for the last month hurt so much. It took everything he had to not surrender and just take whatever she wanted to give him for as long as she wanted. In the end though it would hurt more when she finally did leave than if he just let it finish now. He took a deep breath to brace himself for what was coming, folded his arms around his torso and waited. He watched an uncertain smile pass over her mouth and her hands twist together.

"Not going to say anything?," she asked, obviously trying to put the onus of the conversation on him.

He looked down at the floor and shook his head.

"No," he raised his head to look directly at her, "you asked for this conversation. I didn't. There's nothing else I need to say. You know what I want."

Her face settling into lines of uncertainty, she turned away to roam around the room. He watched her for several minutes, moving around the space, fidgeting with things. Then words began to come out of her mouth. Words about it not being a good idea to get any deeper involved so it wouldn't hurt so much when she had to leave to fend for herself against her past. Which made no sense to him. He'd never left her to cope alone with her past. It took him several minutes of listening to her to realize what was going on. At no point since she had started talking had she looked him directly in the eye. Anger mounting that even at the end she was still lying to him, he exploded.

"Vala! Enough! Cut the crap!"

Pushing himself away from the piano, he crossed the room, his hands clenched at his sides, to where she stood before the large window overlooking the city.

"For once, would you just tell me the truth?"

He looked down at her, realizing that his outburst had frozen her in place and she seemed to be trembling. With a flash of the intuition that had garnered his reputation as a gifted translator of ancient languages, he suddenly understood what he was seeing. Her lies hadn't been about manipulating him for a long time. These lies of evasion and distraction were to protect herself. She was scared. That revelation took his breath away and his anger. He closed the few inches between them.

"Vala, " he said softly, laying his hands on her shoulders.

He felt her flinch away from him. He tightened his grip, turning her to face him.

"Nope," he said quietly, "you're not going anywhere. You're going to stand here, look at me and tell me what's really going on because I finding it hard to believe that you don't want this with me."

Daniel lifted her face up to his with a finger under her chin. "Vala, we've actually been happy together this past month. Why do you want to end it?"

Her eyes opened. The uncertainty and fear in them almost broke his heart.

"Because it will anyway," she said roughly, "sometime soon I'll let you down and you'll realize that," her voice wavered for a moment and then strengthened, "that we've always been wrong for each other. That," again her voice trembled, "that I've never been who you wanted or deserved. And I'll," she stopped, swallowed hard and closed her eyes against sudden tears.

Daniel put his hand to her cheek, brushing the moisture on her face away with his thumb.

"You'll what?" he prompted gently.

She opened blue-grey eyes shimmering with tears.

"I'll be without you." came out in a broken whisper.

He was speechless for several moments. This was what had her scared? Losing him?

"You're not going to lose me Val."

She shook her head vehemently

"I will, just like," her face crumpled and tears started down her cheeks again, "just like I've lost everyone else."

From the moment they'd met, his instinct had been to protect and care for her. He acted on that instinct, wrapping his arms around her while she wept.

"Trusting me, right?' he asked after a few minutes when the worse of the emotional storm seemed to have past.

There was a momentary pause and then he felt her nod against his chest.

"Then trust me when I say as long as I breathe and can make the choice, I will not leave you."

He moved her away from him to see her face properly, brushing tears off her cheeks and her hair away from her face.

"Nothing you do, short of becoming a homicidal manic, which I'm pretty sure isn't going to happen."

He paused a tiny teasing smirk flickered over his mouth. "Granted you can be a bit of manic sometimes but I don't think you're going to suddenly start killing people in cold blood."

His expression suddenly sobered. "Or you having an affair," he gave her a pointed look over the top of his glasses, "which _I'm_ trusting you won't do, is going to make me leave you."

She started to say something. He stopped her with a finger on her lips before she could say anything except 'but'.

He shook his head. "No 'buts' or 'ifs' anymore. We're right together. We both know it."

A shaky smile spread across her face. She put a gentle hand on his cheek.

"I love you so much Daniel."

All the uncertainty and anxiety that had been gnawing at him for the previous 24 hours vanished. He smiled in real joy. For the first time she had said all the words, out loud,

"I love you too Vala," he said softly, leaning down to kiss her.

He drew back a moment later, raising questioning eyebrows at her. "Okay, are we good now? Anymore emotional landmines that could blow us up?"

A warm and tender smile lit her face. "We're good," the smile became her trademark teasing smirk, "for now."

His eyebrows rose further up his forehead. "_Great_," he breathed, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement, "so this means that at some point in the future you're going to expect this poor, stupid man to find his way through another emotional minefield?"

Her smirk deepened. "Probably."

The faint smile hovering over his mouth faded and he looked at her earnestly.

"Here's a better idea. Just tell me."

Her smirk was replaced by the warm, loving smile again.

"I can do that," she murmured, sliding her around his waist and leaning up to kiss him.

"Thank you." he replied, against her lips.

Soft, tender nuzzling became serious caresses with intent before either one said anything.

"I'm hungry," Vala announced suddenly, tilting her head as Daniel pressed his mouth to the spot behind her ear, "Are you?"

"I am," he murmured against her skin, "but we should probably eat something first."

"Why Dr. Jackson," she laughed, a shiver running along her spine as his tongue slid down her neck, "was that innuendo?"

"Absolutely not. I was being quite blunt." he straightened, to regard her, the glimmer of desire in the back of his blue eyes, "I intend on spending the rest of the evening making love to you, but I gotta eat first," he stepped to one side and gestured her towards the kitchen, "so after you."

She flashed a bright smile as she scooted past him. He strolled after her. In the kitchen he poured her the last of the wine from the previous night and a small glass of milk for himself. He leaned back against the counter, watching as she put two bowls of lasagna into the microwave and turned it on. She sauntered over to him, took the glass he offered and leaned against him.

"So, you'd have a nice time?" she smirked, lifting the glass to her mouth

His brow creased slightly. "Uh when?"

Her smirk deepened. "Just now. When I was walking in here ahead of you. Didja have a nice time watching my ass?"

He tilted an eyebrow at her, the corners of his mouth twitched and the dimple in his cheek fluttered.

"Yup." he replied, raising his glass to his lips.

Laughing softly, she pressed against him.

"Wonder if anyone at work would believe what you're actually like at home?"

He set his glass on the counter, looped his arms around her waist, his hands sliding down to cup her rear. He pulled her closer.

"Probably not, but it's not really anybody else's business, is it.?

"S'pose not." she murmured relaxing against him further.

The microwave beeped. She moved away to retrieve the bowls and cutlery. After several minutes Vala broke the silence that had settled between them while they ate.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Daniel glanced at her from the corner of his eye and sighed.

"You're gonna ask it whether I say yes or not Vala, so just out with it."

She poked at the contents of her bowl.

"Still wondering about that first actual dinner date we had."

His fork hovered over his own bowl for a second, then he speared a piece of food and took it to his mouth.

"What about it?"

"What had you so tense?"

"Does it really matter now?"

"Probably not, but I'm curious," she glanced at him with a small smile, "and you've always encouraged my curiosity."

"Remind me to stop doing that." he said dryly as he crossed the room to refill his bowl.

Vala chuckled, watching him slide the bowl into the microwave and touch the control panel to start it.

He shrugged. "I was just over thinking stuff."

"What stuff?"

He cast quick glance at her over his shoulder. "You mostly. I intended on you staying here that night," he let out a self-derisive laugh, "first time in my entire life I'd ever planned the whole romantic evening thing and then every time I looked at you I became more and more fixated on what I wanted and how many different ways I could mess it up."

The microwave beeped. He pulled out his bowl and began to cut into the steaming contents.

"By the time we sat down to dinner I could barely think straight."

Incredulous at what he was implying Vala crossed the room, leaned back against the counter beside him and eyed him in wonder.

"So the whole time I was worrying that you were about to break it off with me, you were actually withdrawing because you were so…umm…what's that delightful Earth term… 'horny'?…you were afraid you wouldn't be able to control the situation?"

A faint flush spread over his face, "Umm...yeah…pretty much," he shrugged as he flicked a glance at her, "somehow ironic though isn't it that even when I tried to pull it off on the spur-of-the-moment without giving myself a chance to stress out about it I still messed up."

Shaking her head, Vala smacked his arm.

"Ow," he glared at her in annoyance, "what was that for?"

"For thinking you messed anything up."

He shrugged again, moving to scrape the remains in his bowl into the garbage. "Wasn't exactly one of my shining moments."

"Oh I don't know. I found it pretty memorable," she said in amusement.

He shot a sour look at her over his shoulder.

Shaking her head she walked over to him, laying a hand on his arm.

"I did. I got to see you as I suspect very few others have. For a few minutes you were focused solely on your own selfish satisfaction. Do you have any idea how honoured I felt to see that, not to mention how much it turned me on to discover that for all your pushing me away, claiming that you didn't want this with me, that we were just friends, that I actually affect you enough to make all that famous self-control shatter."

She pulled gently on his arm to turn him towards her.

"Look," she said softly, "I know you're all about noble sacrifice and subjugating your own needs and wants for the good of others. And I respect and admire that. I really do."

She shrugged with a wry smile. "Even if I don't actually get why you do it, but I know it's part of who you are," she moved closer, looking up into his eyes, "but you're also human Daniel and you do have your own needs and wants."

She put her hand along his cheek to focus his gaze on her.

"Whatever those are, I can do," she said gently, "nothing will surprise me or offend me. There's nothing you can throw at me that I can't deal with," she paused, grimacing a little, "'cept maybe rear-end action, I'm not particularly fond of that."

She stifled a giggle at the way he suddenly gaped at her and his face went pink.

His mouth closed with a snap and he blinked. "Uh, that's…okay, I don't…don't think it'll be an issue."

She smirked. "Somehow I didn't think it would be."

Her smirk dropped away and she looked at him with soft, serious eyes.

"Showing me that you're willing to completely let yourself go with me will mean more to me about how much you trust me than anything you could say."

Vala moved her fingers gently along his cheek to curl around the nape of his neck.

"I love you Daniel…all of you…and no matter how much you think you mess up no one will ever be able to entice me away from you." she finished in a gentle whisper.

She tugged his head down to press her mouth to his in a soft, tender kiss. She drew away after a moment, rewarded with the sight of him licking his lips as they parted. She slouched against him, resting her elbow against his shoulder, her hand moving away from the back of his neck to graze lightly over his ear and down the curve of his throat.

"Now what were you suggesting we do for the rest of the evening?"

"Well, actually," he removed her hand from his throat and planted a small kiss in the middle of her palm, "given everything you've just said, I'm sure you'll understand that what I really need to do is go back to the base to finish the report I didn't this afternoon because I was too pre-occupied with you."

He leaned down to press a soft kiss on her lips. "Don't feel you have to wait up."

Vala gaped at him as he turned to leave. After resolving the turmoil of the past day he was going back to work? Suddenly she squinted in equal disbelief at his retreating form. Was he playing with her? She lunged across the kitchen to grab the back of his belt before he left the room.

"You're sure there isn't something else you'd find more appealing?" she asked in a silky voice.

Daniel turned back to her, pursed his lips in thought, dropped his gaze to the floor for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

"Nope, can't think of anything," he raised his head a little, slanting a glance at her from under his eyelashes, "can you?"

A pang of sweet warmth blossomed in her belly. He was definitely playing with her. She tried to stop a smirk from twitching at her mouth.

"My black lace teddy?"

His eyes wide in surprise, he pressed his lips together and shook his head.

"Mmm, nope, don't think so…doubt it'd fit me."

Vala tilted her head to one side to regard him, watching the beginning of a smirk make the dimples in his cheeks flash. She stepped directly into his personal space, wound her arms around his waist and pressed herself against him.

"I meant with me wearing it, silly."

His eyebrows went up. "Oh right. Yes, that would make much more sense."

His hands began to drift up and down her sides, fingers tracing the outside curve of her breasts.

"Funny though, you know, I don't seem to recall that garment. Perhaps if you put it on I might remember it."

"You might, "she agreed huskily, "you might also remember how quickly you usually take it off me too."

The smirk that had been hovering over his mouth became a grin.

"I might at that."

She leaned back against his arms now looped around her waist, and looked up at him.

"I take it then, you've decided to not go back to the base?"

"Mmmhmm, seems there is something that I want a lot more than finishing that report."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh and what's that?"

Daniel's hands slid down over her hips to curve around her bottom. He pulled her to him, looking down at her, blue eyes intent and heated.

"You."


	10. Late October 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N: **No spoilers here.

Despite a complete lack of information about Vala's b-day I have pegged her as a Scorpio...because speaking for myself as a Cancer(which Daniel is) I always have a physical reaction to Scorpios...plus it amused me to put her b-day on Hallow'en...after all she certainly has bewitched him,lol.

So ages would now be 43 and 38.

**#**

**Late October/08 – Packing**

Vala poured fresh water into the coffeemaker and turned it on. She leaned against the counter to watch it brew, feeling a little at loose ends. She hadn't expected to wake up alone. On the first full day she and Daniel had off together in almost week she had been expecting them to spend the morning playing in bed. Not being an early riser when he had a choice, she had been shocked to discover when she opened her eyes that he was already up and gone. Still, his note promising to bring fresh cinnamon rolls back with him almost made up for his absence.

She had just finished doctoring her coffee when she heard his key in the door. She sauntered down the hall, arriving at the door just as he stepped inside.

"Oh hi," he greeted, his eyes flickering over her as he closed the door, "was hoping you'd be awake when I got back."

She was slowly learning to decipher all the different almost unnoticeable ways he had of looking at her. This mornings glance, she read as appreciative of her very short satin robe, but distracted by something else. She smiled, moved directly into his personal space and laid her hand along his cheek. The skin under her hand was cool and unshaven. He smelled like fresh air and the cinnamon coming from the bag in his hand.

"Good morning," she purred, drawing his mouth down to hers.

One of the things she had learned quickly was his instinctual reaction to her catching his bottom lip between hers and lightly sucking against it. She smiled against his mouth as his whole body stilled and then shivered. She pulled back, slowly releasing him.

"Yup," she said, watching his eyes flutter open and his tongue dart out to lick his lips, "awake and thoroughly disappointed that you were already gone."

"Yeah sorry about that, but I looked at the calendar last night and realized that there's only three weeks until we move, so we need to get started today."

He emphasized the last word with a pat on her shoulder while he moved around her in the direction of the kitchen.

She trailed after him. "Start what?"

"Packing."

She stopped in the kitchen doorway, watching him fill a mug with coffee, cream and sugar.

"But I thought a bunch of base personnel were going to do that for us?"

Taking a large swallow from the mug, he nodded.

"Yeah there will be, to do the actual physical labour on the day, but you don't seriously think I'd trust a bunch of ham-handed Marines to pack all my stuff properly, do you?"

He put the mug on the counter and walked towards her.

"So as much as I like your current," his eyes traveled over her, "state of undress, go put some clothes on, there's packing supplies in the car I need help with."

She watched him leave the room and the apartment. So much for enticing him to bring himself, the coffee and the cinnamon rolls back to bed.

**Mid Nov/08, moving day**

"Vala!"

Daniel's voice came from the door. It echoed slightly in the almost vacant apartment. A moment later he appeared in the bedroom door.

"Are you done yet?" he asked impatiently.

She gritted her teeth. "No Daniel, I'm not, so just cool your planes. You've been rushing me since we got up this morning, and I have no idea why."

"Uh, so we can get the boxes moved this morning and have the afternoon to deal with the furniture."

He moved across the room to the closet, grabbed an armful of clothes and deposited them on the bed beside her.

"What I don't get is why you'd hadn't already finished this."

She turned, her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Is it my fault I was stuck off-world an extra day because of a flood?"

He glanced at her as he put the last of the clothes from the closet on the bed.

"No, of course not, but I woulda thought you'd have had this finished even before you left."

She paused, a shirt in her hands, staring at him in disbelief.

"And how was I supposed to do that? I spent those two days finishing the rest of the apartment since you," she jabbed a finger at his chest, "hadn't gotten much done beyond making sure all your stuff was safely wrapped and protected."

He pulled her finger away. "Vala, the rest of the apartment was my stuff."

She pulled her finger out his hand with a huff. "You know what I mean."

"Okay, fine, I get it, just let's find a way to expedite this now shall we?"

He disappeared from the room, returning a moment later with a box of garbage bags.

He handed her one of the green bags.

"What!" she glared at him, "you want me to throw my clothes away?"

He pressed his mouth into a tight line and shook his head in disgust.

"Now how much sense does that make? I just meant for you to put everything in the garbage bags as is."

She folded her arms across her chest.

"I am not cramming all my clothes into garbage bags."

"Vala, it's quick, and efficient, clothes don't break and we're not going far enough for them to get wrinkled"

He thrust the bag into her hand. "No. Big. Deal."

He headed out the door before she could find anything to say.  
"I'm going on ahead, don't forget to check that all the boxes are gone before you leave too." he called back over his shoulder.

Vala stared after him in silent disbelief. Slowly she registered that Cam had just arrived in the doorway. She opened her mouth to say something.

He took a step back, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

"Hey, leave me outta this, I'm just an innocent bystander."

She blinked at him, closed her mouth with a snap, then with a great show of controlled anger went back to taking clothes off hangers and carefully folding them into a partially filled large suitcase.

Cam snorted a laugh as he moved into the room with an empty dolley.

"Not doin' it his way, huh?"

"No" she stated flatly, "it's partly his fault I'm not getting this done 'til now anyway…arrogant bastard." she finished, adding a few other words under her breath that Cam recognized as Goa'uld but couldn't translate.

Not that the meaning of the words weren't abundantly clear without translation. Smirking, Cam piled the last few boxes in the room onto the cart. He was pretty sure that for the first night in their new house, Jackson wouldn't be sleeping in his own bed.

Cam paused to look around the room. "Have I missed anything?"

Vala glanced at him and the boxes on the cart, did a quick scan of the room, then looked back at him with a shake of her head.

"Nope, don't think so."

" 'K, I'll take these down to the truck," he tipped the dolley onto its wheels and started for the door, "Jackson said he was going on ahead to the house didn't he?"

"Yes I believe that was what he bellowed," she replied sarcastically.

Cam gave her an amused look, "Fine, I'll send the truck on and then come back for you."

Vala flashed a smile. "Thank you, Cameron."

"Yup, no problem," he said over his shoulder on his way out the door, "jus don't go any slower so's you can piss him off more."

Vala's chortle of laughter followed him down the hallway..

"Really Cameron! Me, piss Daniel off on purpose? Never!"

**Later that day**

The presence of Daniel's Jeep and Cam's black Mustang pinpointed the house even before Teal'c stopped the car in front of it. Sam stepped out onto the curb and pushed the door shut. The damp, cold wind was a shock. It had barely been summer when she'd left Earth, now it was almost winter. She had a hunch it was going to feel like a very long time until summer came again.

Sam studied the house, throwing a quick glance at Teal'c as they walked up the path.

"Definitely Daniel's style. Not sure 'bout Vala's though. Lotta squabbles over it?"

Teal'c shook his head. "There were not. There have been very few disagreements since the incident I recounted to you when I was in Atlantis. I have not seen them this settled together since our time on the Odyssey."

Putting her hand on the doorknob, Sam gave Teal'c a pleased smile.

"Good to hear."

She pushed the door open.

Vala's indignant voice from the second floor greeted them.

"Don't you dare put this on me, Daniel! Cameron and I checked twice before we left. All the boxes were gone."

"Then where the hell is it?" came Daniel's equally annoyed voice

"How should I know? I wasn't here when the stuff started coming off the truck. You were."

Sam grimaced at Teal'c. "So what? Were they saving it up for me so I'd know I was home?"

Teal'c's usually impassive expression had tightened into a faint frown.

"So it would seem."

The sound of movement overheard corresponded to the movement of Vala's voice.

"Since the contents are so precious to you maybe you should put a transponder on it so you can keep track of it's every movement." her voice oozed sarcasm

"Not funny, Vala."

"Oh believe me, Daniel. I wasn't trying to be funny."

The sound of movement ceased but Vala didn't.

"You know I have things that are just as important to me and seeing as how a box of mine was with yours then it's very likely that mine is missing too."

Movement started again and Vala's voice grew closer.

"Now get off my back. You've been hassling me about something since we got up this morning. You've been a real pain in the ass today, Daniel, and I've had enough."

Vala arrived at the top of the stairs, followed closely by Daniel. At the sight of Sam, her scowl was instantly replaced by a beaming smile and she almost flew down the stairs.

"Samantha!"

Sam barely had time to take a breath before she was engulfed by her friends' enthusiastic hug.

"Uh, Vala," came Daniel's faintly sardonic voice after a moment, "you're going to suffocate her."

Sam felt herself released with a sheepish, "oh right, sorry" from Vala and was startled to see a shimmer of moisture in her friend's grey-blue eyes. She couldn't remember ever seeing tears from Vala before.

Sam raised her gaze from Vala to meet Daniel's sky-blue eyes. A slow smile of deep affection spread across his face.

"Welcome home, Sam."

**End of moving day**

The pillow slipped out of Vala's hands for the third time. Heaving a sigh she flopped back on the half-made bed, flinging an arm across her eyes. It had been a long day. After, not only being a day late getting back from a mission, but also not arriving home until midnight and then having Daniel pull her out of bed at 7am to get their moving day started, she was exhausted. The thread of tension that had been running between her and Daniel all day hadn't helped either. Despite his assurances to the contrary she couldn't quell her fear that this life they were trying to create together was going to end. Sooner rather than later. When things were good between them there was love and laughter, but some days could deteriorate into tension and sarcasm very quickly. Like today.

She felt him sit down beside her, but made no effort to acknowledge him.

"You okay?" he asked quietly after a moment.

"No," she replied, flatly.

"Would it help if I apologized?"

"For which part, Daniel? Being a pain in the ass all day or for thinking that I had something to do with that box disappearing?"

"How 'bout both?"

She lifted her arm away from her face to look at him. He was seated sideways to her, watching her, his eyes soft and contrite, holding a small cardboard box. Startled, she sat up.

"That's my box," she lifted wide eyes to him, "where did you find it?"

"In the closet by the front door when I was putting away coats and stuff."

He handed it to her. "Mine was right beside it."

Her eyebrow went up slightly as she turned sideways to face him.

"Was it now? Guess I had nothing to do with it being misplaced after all."

He shook his head, with sheepish downcast eyes. "Apparently not. I'm sorry for thinking you did."

He moved his shoulders in a small shrug "All I have left of Abydos is in that box. When I couldn't find it I…I panicked. At that moment it seemed entirely plausible that in a pique of jealousy you…you had 'accidentally' left it behind somewhere."

He raised his gaze back to hers. "I'm sorry, that was unfair of me."

Shaking her head, Vala looked down at the box. "Maybe not, I can't claim I don't feel that way sometimes."

"I know. I wish I knew how to prove you have no reason to," he tipped her face up to his with a finger under her chin, "Because you don't."

"Oh but I do, Daniel. She was everything you want and I'm not."

"Vala," he sighed, "if that were true would we be in this house together?"

She shrugged, as she began to pick at the tape on the box. After a moment of silence Daniel stilled her actions, took the box away from her and put it on the bed beside them. He folded her hands into his and regarded her with soft, earnest eyes.

"You know I love you?"

She nodded.

"Then please believe me that you have no reason to be jealous of Sha're."

With a small shrug and a quick nod she picked up the box again, focusing her attention on removing the tape. She could feel his eyes on her, but continuing with that topic of conversation was not something she wanted to deal with at that moment; she had felt close enough to breaking down into tears several times during the day as it was. Balling up the tape as she tugged, she pulled the last of the strip off the box.

"So what's in there?" he asked as she folded the flaps open.

Vala shrugged. "Just some stuff from my childhood that I've managed to hold on to."

"Oh, like your giraffe?"

Vala glanced at him in disbelief. "It's not a giraffe, Daniel."

He raised an eyebrow. "It is, Vala."

Shaking her head, she reached into the box and pulled out the toy.

"Does this look like a giraffe?" she handed it to him.

Daniel studied the rather beat-up long-necked toy covered with beige material that was dotted with irregular tawny-coloured splotches.

He handed it back. "Uh, yeah it does."

She set the box aside to take the toy back. She stroked its' head with gentle fingers. "Well I don't know how that's possible, there was nothing like that on my home planet."

"Then where'd you get it?"

She frowned in thought. "Don't know, I've had it since I was a baby."

He took it again, examining it closely. "Could be someone the Goa'uld took from Earth remembered what a giraffe looked like and used that memory to make a child's toy."

He handed it back to her. "What's his name?"

"Hax," she replied, running a gentle fingertip over the embroidered face.

"What's this, Vala?"

The familiar note of academic curiosity in his voice pulled her from her reverie over the toy. She looked over at him. He was squinting in thought at the other item in the cardboard carton.

"It's a box, Daniel."

He turned narrowed blue eyes at her. "I know that, Vala. May I see it?"

"Umm…sure I guess."

She twisted slightly towards the box, lifting out a small wood chest about the size of standard jewellery case, the top was an inlay of needlework, the sides heavily carved. She handed it to him and found him regarding her intently.

"What?" she asked, giving him a bright smile.

"Just wondering what it is about this box that's making you uneasy."

She flashed the same smile. "Absolutely nothing, Daniel. Why would you think that?"

He pursed his lips. "Vala, I can hear the hesitation in your voice."

He eyed her over the tops of his glasses. "It is yours isn't it?"

She frowned at him. "Yes, of course it is. I've had it since I was a little girl."

" 'K, just checking," he said with a slight nod as he focused his attention on the box.

"Fascinating," he murmured almost to himself, tracing his fingertip over the inlay on the top, "definite Moorish influence," the same finger slid down the slides, "but very Oriental too."

Vala watched his slim fingers glide over the box. She shivered. He touched her the same way. She supposed, given that he automatically explored with his hands, she shouldn't have been surprised to find him a tactile lover, but she had been. She had never been with anyone before who would willingly spend long moments exploring and memorizing her shape and texture with his fingers. She still got impatient with him sometimes but that was more because having him stroke her with such care and reverence was unbearably arousing.

The sound of her name refocused her attention. She looked at him

"What?"

He smiled softly. "I said it's a beautiful box. Where did you get it?"

She lifted a shoulder in a faint shrug.

"Just a man in my hometown who made things."

Daniel nodded, stroking his fingers over the inlay again.

"Well he was very good at it, this work is exquisite."

He cast a glance at her. "May I open it?"

For a split-second she paused, the inside of her bottom lip faintly caught in her teeth. She knew instantly by the way his eyebrow twitched up that he had seen her almost sub-conscious gesture of uncertainty.

She shrugged with a bright smile. "Guess so. Nothing interesting in it, just a bunch of cheap costume jewelry I've collected over the years."

Giving her another measured look, he flicked the metal clasp open and lifted the lid.

The inside was lined with a black felt-like material. The bottom compartment held bracelets, pins and a few rings. The top half had small hooks from which hung several pairs of earrings and a collection of necklaces. He picked up one of the bracelets.

"For costume jewelry Vala, these are nice," he put down the bracelet and touched the earrings she had worn the night of the concert, "but other than these I don't think I've ever seen you wear any of this."

"Well dangly earrings and bracelets don't exactly suit our work, do they?"

He glanced quickly at her with a wry smile. "Good point."

"Although," he picked up a gold chain with a small pendant on it, "I have seen this," he shot a quick look at her, "this looks like it comes from Earth, Vala. Where did you get it?"

She frowned at him. "Well I didn't steal it, if that's what you mean."

He looked directly at her with faint irritation. "No, that's not what I meant and you know it."

She shrugged. "It was a gift."

His brow creased. "Yes, I figured that, but from whom?"

Her mouth twisted into a familiar smirk. "Jealous?"

He shook his head in growing irritation. "No, just curious because I didn't give it to you."

Vala tilted her head. "Actually you've never given me anything like this. Why is that?"

"Vala!," he said impatiently, "that's not the point here. Stop evading and just answer the question."

She took the pendant and returned it to the box.

"Jacek gave it to me when he was here."

She got up from the bed to take the box to her dresser. She fidgeted with arranging the box and the other objects already on the dresser. There were several moments of silence before she heard him pad across the room to her. The familiar warmth of his hands on her shoulders started to ease the days' tension.

"Everything in that box is from Jacek isn't it?" he said softly.

She shrugged.

Daniel continued in the same gentle tone. "Is that why you were hesitant about showing me the box? You didn't want to admit that your relationship with him is important to you?"

She shrugged again, fiddling with the Chinese box that held all her hair clips.

Sighing, he pressed a soft kiss on her hair. "You know you don't always have to do this."

She cast a quick glance at him in the mirror. "Do what?"

"Pretend you don't care about something when you obviously do," his fingers moved lightly on her skin, "it's okay that you've kept these things…that it matters to you that he may care."

She snorted a hard, short laugh. "Oh don't kid yourself, Daniel. Bestowing all these cheap little pieces of jewelry on me had nothing to do with Jacek caring and everything to do with him trying to curry the favour of a child that he really had no idea how else to deal with."

Daniel reached around her to reopen the box.

"I dunno,Vala, these are all definitely your taste. They strike me as being from a man thinking about his daughter and trying to ease his guilty conscience for leaving her all the time."

She swiped a hand across her eyes. "Oh yes, he was trying to ease his guilty conscience alright, but it was so he wouldn't feel bad, not to make me feel that he might care."

Daniel wrapped his arms around her. "Still, if he didn't care, he wouldn't have had a guilty conscience. If he didn't have a guilty conscience he wouldn't have given you anything, he would have ignored you. I think he does care, so don't write him off. Just like I never completely wrote you off, you need to keep allowing him chances to redeem himself."

He turned her to face him. "That was my whole point when he was here."

She shifted away from him slightly, put her hands on her hips and fixed him with a mild glare.

"That entire episode still rankles you know."

He nodded sheepishly. "Yes I know and I have to admit part of that was my fault."

Her blue-grey eyes widened in surprise.

He gave her a small smile. "We never doubted your assessment of him but we…"

"Didn't trust where my loyalties would lie." she jumped in.

He frowned and shook his head. "No, that wasn't it exactly, it was more that sometimes you let things slip inadvertently and we didn't want anything tipping him off," he directed a pointed look at her, " and _I _wanted _you_ to see us giving him as many chances to change his ways as we gave you so you wouldn't give up on him completely."

"Well that was a very nice sentiment Daniel, but I could have told you that Jacek wouldn't be likely to change his lifestyle like I did."

His brow creased. "Why?"

Her hands moved off her hips to settle on his and her expression softened.

"I had an incentive to change my ways that I doubt would have appealed to Jacek."

His eyebrows rose in puzzlement. "Oh? Something besides a living a safe and relatively normal life?"

She nodded with a blossoming smile. "Mmmhmm."

"What?"

Vala shifted completely back into his personal space, looking at him like he was a particularly dense child. "You, silly."

He gazed at her for a long moment, then slowly shook his head.

"Why didn't I know that before Vala?"

"Well I don't understand how you couldn't have, I thought I made it obvious that I was interested in you."

He shook his head again. "What you made obvious was that you wanted sex with me, not that you were interested in anything else beyond that."

Her expression of looking at him like he was dense child deepened.

"Daniel, I'm not an unattractive woman, I don't have to struggle to find lovers. Do you really think I would've have worked so hard to stay here if all I wanted from you was sex?"

He looked at her for a long moment, then suddenly chuckled.

"Now I know why people call me clueless."

He exhaled a weary sigh. "C'mon, it's been a long day, let's go to bed."

"A lovely notion my darling, but," she paused throwing a glance around him to the bed.

He followed the direction of her gaze to the unmade bed and the pillow still on the floor.

"Oh, okay," without hesitation he walked back to the bed, picked up the pillow, caught the short edge under his chin and pulled the pillowcase on.

Staring at him, she joined him at the bed. "How'd you do that?"

"Hmm? Do what?" he reached across the bed for the other pillow.

She picked up the first pillow.

"Pull this thing on so easily. Damn pillow kept slipping outta my hands."

Daniel eyed her over the top of his glasses, a light smirk twitching at his mouth as he repeated the action with the second pillow.

"Must be an Earth-born talent, not something you'd know if you were from another planet," he dropped the pillow to the bed.

She smacked his shoulder with the pillow still in her hands. He shot a calculating glance at her. His eyes glittering with mischief, he swung at her with the second pillow. She grabbed it in mid-motion. Her smirk of satisfaction that she had caught it before it hit her vanished when she suddenly found herself flat on her back on the bed.

"Not fair," she laughed, "you're stronger than me."

"Oh that's rich coming from you. Don't recall my greater strength being too much of an obstacle on the Prometheus."

He leaned down, a hand on each side of her and smirked. "Face it Mal Doran, you've gotten slow."

Giving him a wicked grin, she put her hands on his waist, pulled at him and then twisted.

A moment later she was grinning down at him in triumph that she had reversed their positions.

"Oh now this feels familiar," she purred, fisting her hands in his shirt and pulling him up to a sitting position.

She moved one hand to touch his cheek. "Isn't this where we're supposed to kiss?"

"I believe it is, but I can do without the head butt this time thanks."

She smirked. "I'm not making any promises."

He grinned at her and shook his head. "You're still a fruitcake."

He shifted slightly to sit up fully, his face becoming tender and serious as he laid a soft hand along her cheek

"My fruitcake though." he whispered.


	11. Dec 2008

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:**

I wasn't going to post this until tomorrow night, but it's unlikely that I'll be online after tomorrow night...leaving for a two-ish week camping trip with husband and kids on Saturday...and I wanted to see the reactions this particular chapter gets...I'm sure YOU ALL will enjoy this.

This is the chapter that was just posted to 'alldaniel' earlier in the week...so ya'll are caught up now. Hopefully when I get back from camping I'll have completed the chapters I'm currently working on and then you'll get two or three chapters in quick succession.

Spoilers here for Continuum and for SGA S5.

Don't think there was anything else I need to say...oh yeah...to all my wonderful reviewers, I'm sorry that I haven't really responded to anyone in the last week...trying to get organized for this camping trip, etc...but I'll make a concerted effort when I get back to responded properly to everyone...just know that I'm really appreciative of the time taken to say a few words.

So enjoy this.

#

**Two days after moving day.**

Both cell phones rang at the same time. Vala exhaled a soft moan at the sweet tension building in her body and in annoyance at the interruption. She pushed herself up on her hands to focus on her cell phones' caller ID.

"Who?" Daniel grunted from behind her.

She flicked a glance over her shoulder at him.

"Cameron," she said, clearly irritated, "do I answer it?"

"S'pose…just keep callin'…o'herwise." his reply came out in heavy breaths.

"H're, lemme," he muttered, heaving a long sigh of regret.

Moving away from her, he twisted around to flop down beside her on the bed. He grabbed the still ringing phone from his nightstand, snapped the lid open and put it to his ear.

"Mitchell," he growled, "what the hell do you want at this hour?"

"Whoa! Wide awake at 6AM and pissed off at the phone ringing," the Colonel's amused voice came from the other end of the phone, "careful there Jackson, I might think I'm interrupting something."

"You are!" Daniel spat.

The Colonel's sudden silence made Daniel smirk.

"So you better have a damn good reason for calling."

"Ah…uh…yeah…I do actually. We're being recalled."

"What you mean like a defective product?" Vala jumped into the conversation in puzzlement.

Cam snorted a laugh, "No, I mean as SG-1."

Vala groaned. "Cameron, Daniel and I are supposed to be off this week. Besides, we've haven't been part of SG-1 since the last time we saved the galaxy. Can't the current team do it this time?"

"'Fraid not, the Tok'ra requested us specifically to witness the execution of the supposedly last Ba'al symbiote."

Daniel and Vala stared at each other. Cam's news conjured up a myriad of images and emotions for both. Primary, was a shared hatred for the symbiote's cold-blooded cruelty, followed by grudging respect for the creatures' intelligence. Vala herself, couldn't completely suppress a shallow appreciation for the symbiote's devastatingly handsome host.

"'Bout damn time," Daniel muttered into the phone, "When?"

"Tok'ra said sometime in the next twelve hours. General Landry is on his way in and wants to debrief in an hour and a half. So chop, chop you two, I got expensive coffee and Teal'c's gettin' doughnuts."

"And no Daniel, you don't have time to finish whatever we interrupted."

Daniel and Vala both frowned in confusion at the sudden addition of a voice that was not Cameron's.

"Jack?"

"Daniel," came the sardonic voice of Jack O'Neill.

"What the hell…," Daniel paused, his frown deepening as he realized that if Vala _and Jack_ could take part in his conversation with Cam, "wait…Sam?"

"Right here, Daniel," his surrogate younger sister answered

"And Teal'c?"

"Indeed."

Daniel shook his head. "A conference-call, Mitchell?"

"Well," the Colonel drawled, "it seemed the most efficient."

"Crap."

Daniel's single word response brought laugher from the others, including Vala who was trying to hide her merriment behind her hand. Daniel shook his head at her, amusement beginning to spread across his own face, then his brow creased suddenly.

"Wait though…Jack, why the hell are you taking part in this?"

"Well, apparently my ole' buddy Ba'al has requested my presence too."

"Okay, like that's not creepy..."Daniel paused briefly in thought, then he continued in a puzzled voice "except you're in Washington…," he paused again, continuing after a moment in smug amusement, "no wait, Sam's back from Atlantis, so of course you're not in Washington, are you?".

The General amusement subsided. "Well, no."

It was Daniel's turn to chuckle.

"Geez Jack, did Mitchell bother you too?"

The older man cleared his throat. "Well yes he did, but we were actually sleeping, Daniel."

Laughter from the others drowned out any response the archeologist might have had.  
He sighed wearily into the phone as the merriment died down. "Okay, if you're all quite done now, I'm going to take a shower here first."

"Alone, Daniel." Jack piped up.

"Funny, Jack."

"I'm just sayin'…," the General trailed off.

"Hanging up now. Goodbye, Jack." Daniel singsonged as he took the phone away from his ear and snapped it shut.

Vala shut her own phone, laid it on the bed and closed the gap between, smirking seductively. She sprawled half on him, half off, folded her arms across his chest, rested her chin on her hands and gazed at him with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Hmmm, a shared shower," she purred, "next best thing to finishing what we'd started."

He smirked back at her. "Who says we can't do both?…I'm very good at multi-tasking."

Her eyes glittered with desire and mischief. "Race you."

**post-Continuum**

"Here's," Cam made an all-encompassing swooping gesture with the bottle in his hand at the other four.

He had to clutch at the arm of the couch just under his left hand. Moving his head that fast made the room spin. He tried again.

"Heressh," he stopped, blinked and tried a third time.

"Here's," he paused, flashing a sloppy grin of triumphant that he got it out clearly, "here's to the band."

The sound of a throat being cleared drew his focus to Jack seated directly beside him. Cam grinned again, dipping his head and the bottle slightly to acknowledge the General.

"An' ah 'course, the or'gin'l ban'leader, without whom," he carefully wrapped his mouth around the last word to satisfy the resident linguist's penchant for proper grammar.

Cam cast a quick glance at said linguist who seemed to be more interested in examining the inside of his eyelids than anything else. Hard to tell if he was going to sleep or already passed out. Cam snickered. Nothing had ever increased Jackson's tolerance for alcohol. Three beers was his limit. Cam squinted fuzzily at him. Apparently though he was neither asleep nor passed out, but focused solely on the woman draped across his lap. At least if the way his hand was roaming freely over her was any indication. That itself was proof that Daniel had reached his inebriation stage. Stone cold sober, even at his most relaxed, he didn't make a practice of touching her in an openly sexual way like he was at the moment, in front of others.

"Hey!"

The nudge of a knee against his leg pulled Cam's attention away from the archeologist and his girlfriend.

He frowned down at Jack. "What?"

"Without whom what?"

Cam blinked, trying to focus clearly to make sense of that question. "Huh?"

"Ya started a toast to the 'band' and their orig'nal leader, 'without whom' ya said…without whom what?"

Cam stared hard at the General. He really wished the guy would stop moving, it was seriously impairing Cam's ability to think straight. After a moment he gave his head a slight shake. Any harder he figured would compromise what little sense of balance he had left. He snorted a laugh as he realized it was too late. He dropped back onto the couch beside Jack.

Shrugging, he flashed another sloppy grin. "Beats me."

Jack made a sound of disgust. "Geez Mitchell, you're lousy at suckin' up."

"Prolly figured itzz not worth his wh'le anymore Jack." came Daniel's beer induced drawl.

"Sooo not helpin' Daniel." Jack retorted.

"Sooo not tryin' to." the archeologist quipped.

"Yes well, then why doncha jus' go back to makin' out with the girlfriend."

"Happ'ly, 'cept you guys keep interruptin'

"Then get a room." Cam offered, draining the last mouthful of beer from his bottle.

Daniel exhaled a gust of laughter. "HA!…'xcellent su'gestion Mitch'll."

Cam watched him propel Vala off his lap, lurch to his feet, then suddenly collapse on the floor all in one single movement.

For a couple of beats, they all stared at their startled, slightly indignant friend sprawled on the floor and he stared back at them. Then they all burst out laughing. Continuing to laugh Daniel carefully hauled himself to his feet with Vala's help only to land on the floor a second time. By the time he was back on the floor a third time he was laughing so hard he could barely breath. He looked up at them with a wide goofy grin.

"Leg's numb…think itzz had too mucha drink."

"I don't think it's just your leg darling," Vala motioned at Teal'c to take one of Daniel's arms as she took the other, "I think it's your entire body that's had too much to drink."

She ducked under his arm to drape it over her shoulder and wrapping the arm closest to him around his waist. Patting his stomach with her free hand she smiled up at him.

"C'mon, let's go to bed."

Daniel grinned at her like a mischievous little boy, leaned down to rest his forehead against hers and dropped his voice to whisper. "Thought ya'd never ask."

Vala breathed a laugh as she led him from the room. "Forget it Daniel…like you're gonna be _up_ for anything before tomorrow."

Snickering at the couple's by-play Cam watched them wobble toward the stairs. Still grinning he turned his head towards Jack and Sam. He paused, blinking owlishly at them for a moment.

"Dibs on t'other bed." he burst out when the room had finally stopped swaying, pointing up to the second floor.

Jack, making a negative motion with his head, put a restraining hand on Cam's shoulder.

"Ahhh….don' think so _Colonel_."

Cam gaped at him. "You're…_you're _pullin' rank on me?"

Holding out one hand to Sam and raising the other one to ruffle Cam's hair, Jack grinned.

"You betcha."

"But….but," Cam spluttered.  
Sam flashed her own grin as she followed Jack from the room.

"Night Cammie," she cooed sarcastically, patting his cheek on her way by him.

Cameron collapsed back into the couch behind him. Closing his eyes quickly to block out the nausea-inducing tilt of the room, he sighed. At least Jackson had made sure the couches in his house fit a 6' body.

**Mid-Dec/08**

"These are the manuscripts the elders on P8C-672 allowed us to bring back."

Vala glanced at Daniel as she deposited three cardboard tubes on his worktable. He was perched on his stool on the other side of the table, fidgeting with his pen while he stared at the blank pages of his journal.

Vala leaned forward to wave a hand between him and the book. "Hey!"

His head lifted. "Hmm?" he blinked and then he smiled at her, "s…sorry what?"

"I said these are the manuscripts from '672." she gestured at the tubes on the table.

"Oh right…yeah…thanks," his tone was distracted and he was staring at her.

She frowned. "You okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

Her frowned deepened. He was still staring at her and the odd expression in his crystal blue eyes was making her nervous.

"Just wondering what's wrong? You've been preoccupied and looking at me like I'm some sort of science experiment since we got up this morning."

He smiled again. "Sorry. Nothing's wrong. I'm fine."

"Good," she replied softly, finding herself suddenly unable to break eye contact with him.

He was still staring at her and the expression in his eyes had become one that made her pulse race.

She shifted slightly, putting a hand on her hip.

"Okay, keep looking at me like that and I'll be compelled to pull you into the nearest storage closet."

Chuckling, he reached his hand across the table. "C'mere."

A little unsure, she followed his hand around the table to where he sat. Her eyebrows almost went into her hairline when he settled her on his knee. He wasn't comfortable with obvious displays of affection at work. She was always surprised when he initiated one. She balanced herself on his knee, with the circle of his arms around her waist and waited. The unreadable expression in his eyes that made her nervous was back. She cleared her throat.

"Uh Daniel, please stop looking at me like that, you're freaking me out."

He gave her a small smile. "Sorry."

He looked at her a moment longer, then closed his eyes. Another moment later, he let out a long breath and reopened his eyes.

"I…I, uh…got you something."

Vala's forehead creased. "Well I am glad to hear that darling, it is Christmas next week after all. I've already bought you..."

"No," he interrupted, "I mean I have something for you and I want to give it to you right now."

"Oh," she looked at him carefully, trying to understand how he could be nervous and calm at the same time, "all right, if you're sure you don't want to wait until Christmas."

"No. I'm sure. I want to give this to you when we're alone."

Her mouth curving into her trademark seductive smirk, she skimmed a fingertip teasingly over the short sideburn that followed the contour of his cheek closest to her and down to trail over his jawline.

"Well darling," she purred, "if it's something you want to give me when we're alone, are you sure this is the right place?"

Shooting a quelling look at her over the top of his glasses, he moved her caressing hand back into her lap.

"Vala," he said in faint irritation, "that's not what this is about," he paused in brief thought, "well at least not directly anyway."

"Then what?" she prompted in puzzlement.

Giving her a soft smile he leaned back slightly in his chair and pulled something out of the pocket of his BDU jacket.

Still smiling softly he took her hand and placed a small, square black velvet box in her palm.

"This." he said gently.

"Oh," she almost squealed, glancing at him, "I can open it?"

"Of course," he said, with the same soft smile.

"Oh Daniel," she gasped a moment later, "it's beautiful."

She touched the sparkling surface of the small square cut stone set in a simple band of white gold.

"This is a pink diamond, isn't it?"

"Uh yeah, it is."

She threw a quick glance at him as she studied the stone.

"I've researched Earth's gemstones." she traced the ring with a fingertip, ignoring his muttered 'why does that not surprise me.'"

"These can be worth a lot of money Daniel," she raised her eyes to his in wonderment, "I'm a little surprised that you would be this extravagant."

His shoulders lifted in a small shrug. "I thought it was right for you and it wasn't too outrageous."

She looked at him with a bright, beaming smile. "Well it's gorgeous and I love it."

A joyful smile broke over his face, lighting up his eyes. "I'm glad."

"May I put it on?"

He took the box from her. "Here, let me."

Vala watched him take the ring from its slot. His usually nimble fingers seemed to fumble a bit with it and she wasn't sure what to make of the faint shake in his touch as he slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand.

She stared down at the ring, entranced by the way it sparkled in the overhead lights. She tilted her head to one side and bit her lip as she studied it. Frowning a little, she faintly shook her head.

"Vala? You're saying no?"

Mesmerized by the play of light on the barely pink gem she didn't catch the edge of anxiety in his voice.

"Mmmm," she nodded slightly, just before she moved the ring to the middle finger of her right hand.

She stuck her hand out in front of her to admire its new position.

"There, it looks better on that hand, don't you think?"

Daniel wrapped his hand around hers and brought it back towards him to move the ring back to its original position.

"No," he said a little impatiently, "this is where it's meant to be."

She looked at him in surprise. "What is there some sort of law about how to wear a ring? I mean your government has laws about a lot of things, many of them completely unnecessary as far as I'm concerned, but really Daniel, a law about how to wear a ring seems quite ridiculous even for your government."

He smirked at her, eyes alight with amusement.

"Call it more of a cultural rule."

She grimaced, "Well Daniel, if you're going to throw cultural references…"

Outright chuckling now, he put his hand along her cheek to focus her attention on him.  
"Vala," he brushed the backs of his fingers lightly over her skin, "this is an engagement ring…I'm asking you to marry me."

Her eyes widening into saucers, she stared at him in stunned silence. The tenderness and love in his eyes made her want to weep with joy and run away all at the same time. She looked away from the intensity in his blue eyes, focusing instead on the collar of his t-shirt.

"Why?" came out in a small voice.

"Well, it's kinda the usual thing for a guy in our culture to do when he wants to make permanent commitment to the woman he loves."

She raised her eyes to his.

"I meant, why me?"

His eyebrows went up in mild surprise. "Last time I checked you're the woman I'm in love with."

She frowned slightly, looked down at his t-shirt again and nodded.

"Vala," he said tightly, after a moment of silence. "you can give me this commitment…can't you?"

She cast a sharp glance at him. The edge of fear in his voice caught her attention that time. She nodded slowly. The joyous smile spread across his face again to light up his eyes. He leaned his forehead against hers.

"Then I think this is the place, sweetheart, where you supposed to say 'yes'."

"Yes." she whispered, in shock at both his unexpected proposal and unexpected endearment.

The brilliant smile on his face somehow becoming even brighter, his head moved slightly to catch her mouth with his in a soft, surprisingly chaste kiss. He pulled away a moment later, to rest his forehead against hers again.

"Thank you," he whispered huskily, "you've made me very happy today."

"I hope you'll always think so," she said, her brow creasing faintly.

"I'm pretty sure I will," he replied, drawing her towards him for another kiss.

The need for air and the sound from the doorway of a throat being cleared, separated them. They looked in unison to Sam leaning against the doorframe, smirking.

"Sorry to be interrupting."

Daniel shook his head. "No problem Sam, we were just talking."

Samantha raised an eyebrow at that and her smirk deepened.

"Oh? Is that what you call that? Funny I always thought talking involved saying words out loud."

Daniel shrugged. "Well you know, sometimes words are unnecessary."

"Uhunh," Sam responded, still smirking, "anyway, I just came by to see if either of you were interested in lunch."

"Actually Sam," Daniel nudged Vala off his knee, "how 'bout all five of us have lunch at O'Malley's? My treat."

Sam blinked in surprise. "Wow…uh okay…Teal'c's off-world but I'll see if I can find Cam. Meet you topside?"

Daniel nodded "Yup, see you up there."

He drew Vala back to face him when Sam had left.

"Thought we could tell them over lunch."

"Okay," she agreed with a small smile.

"Good," he paused to press a soft kiss on her mouth, "can you lock up while I visit the john, and I'll meet you at the elevator?"

"Mmhhmm," she agreed again with the same small smile.

Vala watched him disappear into the corridor. Her smile fading, she sank onto the chair he'd just vacated. She was in a state of shock. Never had she let herself even consider the possibility that he would give up the perfect memory of his first marriage for the imperfect reality of a second one. Especially with her. She exhaled a slow, deep sigh, trying to make herself breath properly again. The movement made the lights in the room dance across the surface of the ring on her finger. She stared at it. So many emotions welled up inside her, she couldn't put names to them all. The nausea inducing see-saw of joy and fear was too much to cope with. Swallowing back a need to either laugh or cry hysterically, she jumped off the chair and headed out the door, pausing to swipe her key card through the lock.

**Mid-January 2009**

"We need to set a date."

Daniel looked up at Vala's husky, accented voice. He smiled with a mixture of affection and mild exasperation.

"Oh hello Vala. Nice to see you too. Yes, I'm glad to be home and of course I missed you."

She glanced at him as she plunked the pile of magazines she'd been carrying onto the worktable, paying very little attention to his sarcasm.

"Oh that is good to hear darling, because of course I missed you too and now that you're home we can set a date."

Pleased that she seemed ready to jump with both feet into making plans he stopped in the midst of unpacking his backpack, leaned against his desk and gave her a warm smile.

"Sure. Whatja have in mind?"

Vala beamed at him. "January 16th 2010."

Daniel gaped at her. "A year from now?"

He blinked, then shook his head. "I don't want to put this off for a year Vala."

Her smile faltered. "Well I don't know as we have a choice, Daniel. According to all these," she gestured at the magazines under her hand, "it takes that long to plan a typical wedding in your society. Most reception venues need to be booked a year in advance; invitations need to be sent out three months in advance and they should be ordered three months before that; I need time to find the right dress so it can be ordered and fitted…"

Shaking his head, Daniel walked from where he stood at his desk to where Vala, continuing to reel off information about booking photographers, flowers and caterers, stood at the far end of the worktable.

He stopped beside her, laid a hand on hers to still her fidgeting with the magazines and put the other hand along her cheek to turn her face towards him..

"Vala, this doesn't need to be a three-ring circus."

She focused on him, a faint frown creasing her forehead.

"Well of course not Daniel, that would be silly, for one thing none of the magazines mention anything involving wild animals and people who swing from bars."

He smirked in amusement. "That was a figure of speech Vala. I just meant that we don't need to do anything over-the-top and complicated."

Her frown deepened. "Well I wasn't. I was just trying to plan something that would be normal for this society. Which is all I've ever tried to do since I got here you know…try to fit in and meet expectations, but do I ever get any help?"

She stepped back from him, allowing his hand to fall away from her cheek.

"No. I just get thrown into situations and left to figure out things on my own. So I'm sorry if I don't meet your expectations Daniel, but I do try."

She whirled on her heel and was gone before he could respond. The PA summoning him to General Landry's office kept him from going after her immediately. It was almost 30 minutes later, after a brief conversation with Landry that he found her in one of the gyms whacking at a punching bag.

"What the hell was that?" he crossed the room to her.

She flicked a glance at him, then away, shrugging.

"Nothing. I'm just tense. We haven't had sex in four days."

She took a healthy jab at the bag.

He grabbed it as it swung towards him.

"So what…if we did it right here, right now, you'd no longer be so agitated that you need to be doing this," he gestured at her current activity.

Without looking at him, she took another poke at the bag. "Yes."

Irritated, he tightened his grip on the bag and leaned closer.

"You expect me to believe that?" he almost hissed.

"Why not?" she punctuated each word with a jab at the bag.

He let go of it and took a step back, staring at her in disbelief.

"Wh…why not? How…how 'bout because I know better."

He took another step away and shook his head.

"God Vala, I know you better than anyone," he frowned and shook his head again, "I can't…can't believe that you think that I still buy into your sexual smoke screens."

He folded his arms across his chest and considered her. She had stopped hitting the bag, was holding on to it, and simply staring at it.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"What I can't figure out though is what the sudden mood swing was about. One minute you're all enthused about setting a date and the next you're flying off the handle because I disagreed about the date."

He pursed his lips. "And while we disagree about a lot of things, you don't usually go off on tangents completely unrelated to the disagreement."

Cocking his head to one side, he regarded her for a moment. "'Course this could be you running away from something else."

Unfolding his arms, he walked back towards her.

"Vala, you're supposed to be telling me if something's on your mind."

He stopped beside the punching bag. "I'm not a mind reader, sweetheart. I'm just a stupid guy. You need to talk to me."

Her eyes flickered to him. She looked at him steadily for a moment, then turned and walked away as she removed the cloth strips wound around her knuckles.

"Do you ever doubt us?" she asked softly.

He watched her cross to where she'd tossed a towel across a weight bench.

"Less and less all the time. When I do it's because you're obviously still not trusting me completely."

"Oh and I suppose you're trusting me completely now."

"Yes."

She turned, staring at him in stunned silence. She blinked a couple of times, opened her mouth to say something, then changed her mind, turning back to gather up the strips of cloth she had dropped on the bench.

"Val," Daniel prompted.

There was another moment of silence while she began to coil up the strips.

"We're…we're going so fast…in less than six months we've gone from being friends and co-workers, to being lovers to buying a house together and…and just…just when I've managed to catch my breath after the house…you…you propose…."

The rolling up of the cloth strip stopped. She picked at a loose thread. He waited quietly for her to continue. She needed to find her own way through whatever was on her mind. Prompting her or rushing her would only give her a means to skirt around the truth. She had to reach, on her own, for the level of trust he wanted from her. Her next words were barely above a whisper.

"I'm…I'm scared, Daniel."

In the entire time they had known each other she had never admitted to being unsure, worried or concerned, let alone scared, about anything. Saying it out loud to him marked the level of honesty that he'd been asking her to trust him with since they met. His impulse was to gather her up in his arms and reassure her. The set of her shoulders though and the fact she still had her back to him warned him off.

With soft steps he approached her, attentive and attuned to everything she was saying and doing.

"I…I feel like we're on an al'kesh that's gone crazy…any minute we're going to crash…I keep waiting for the earth-shattering kaboom."

Daniel smiled at that, although it didn't seem the moment for any teasing remarks about her watching the Cartoon Network too much.

He stopped an arm's reach from her, and touched her shoulder with gentle fingers.

"There won't be an earth-shattering kaboom…we'll be okay."

She turned, looking at him with watery grey eyes.

"How can you know that?" she asked in a shaky voice, "there are so many things that could tear us apart…we're…we're so different, we…we argue all the time. I'm not…not who you want….and…and at some point I'll…let you…let you down," she stopped to take a trembling breath.

Her raw uncertainty made his heart ache. Gently, he put a finger to her lips before she could say anything else.

"That was all true even before I proposed," he paused, his brow creasing slightly, "well except for that part about you not being who I want."

He took a step closer. "In here," he placed a hand on her upper chest over her heart, "you've always been who I wanted."

He studied her for a moment, his brow creasing in thought, "You know, I thought we'd resolved all this back in the summer. I don't understand…" his brow unfurrowed and his eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Wait….are we revisiting this because I proposed?'

Shrugging, she bowed her head.

"Vala! You must have known I would ask you sooner or later?"

She shook her head.

"I thought you knew me better than that," his voice was soft and disbelieving, "how did you not know I would want us married?"

Her head came up, her eyelashes spiky with unshed tears.

"Why…why would I? Why would I even consider that you'd give up the memories of your perfect first marriage for a less than perfect second one?"

Sighing sadly, he shook his head. "Would you stop. Please? You have no reason to be jealous of Sha're or of my marriage to her. That was a different time and different place. We suited each other then, I doubt we would now….I'm not that young, wide-eyed academic anymore. I've been through too much, seen too much to be anything now but hard and cynical. If she and I met now I doubt that I would appeal to her at all, I'd probably scare her more than anything. Hell, sometimes I scare myself."

He cupped his hand along the side of Vala's cheek. "But I don't scare you. You know most of what I've been through…hell you've been through a lot of it yourself. We know and understand each other in ways that no one else ever will…despite our differences.  
His mouth twitched into a wry smile. "And oh yes, we do have our differences, but even on days when those differences make me want to yell in frustration, the fact that I love you doesn't change and no matter what goes on between us on any given day I will not leave you."

"You don't always get a choice," she whispered in a broken voice.

His stomach lurched. They had both come so close to not making it home so many times. He had to swallow hard around the fear knotting his throat before he could say anything.

"Neither of us can promise that won't happen."

She bowed her head, nodding in silence.

"That's one of the reasons I proposed," he continued softly, "you've said it yourself…'Life is short'. Our lives especially. Everytime we step through that 'gate, we take the chance that we won't make it back," he ran a gentle hand over her hair, "I can't keep doing that if I don't know that you'll be safe here if I don't come home. The only way I can do that is by giving you my name."

He moved his hand to tilt her gaze up to his.

"And because our lives could be cut short I want us to grab at this chance to have the home and family that neither one of us has had before .

Vala closed her eyes and leaned into his touch her hand lifting to fold around his, silent tears trickled down her cheeks.

"I love you so much." she said thickly

Daniel leaned his cheek against her hair. "And I love you…that's why I know we'll be okay, "he moved his head away again to direct a pointed statement at her, "that and you promising you're going to stop trying to avoid talking about things."

He was rewarded with a soft smile and a nod.

"Thank you," he murmured, bending to place a gentle kiss on her mouth.

The first intimate contact they'd had in four days quickly deepened and lengthened. The need for air finally parted them.

She leaned back in the circle of his arms.

"So what date then?"

Daniel grimaced faintly and shrugged.

"I'd like to say next month, but that's probably a bit too fast and I won't be here anyway."

Vala frowned. "You won't?"

Shaking his head, he steered her to straddle the bench behind her.  
"Doubt you heard," he settled onto the bench in the same position, facing her, "the PA as you went flying out of my office. I got called to General Landry's office. That's why I didn't come looking for you right away. Woolsey has requested my help in Atlantis."

Vala's eyes lit up. "We're going to Atlantis?"

Daniel peered over his glasses at her. "_Me_, Vala, not _we_."

Her face fell. "Oh, but Daniel," she almost whined.

"No," he said firmly, "I'll have work to do. You won't. You'll be bored in no time."

"And," he continued, "you've got your own work responsibilities here."

"Fine," she sighed, slipping her hand into his, "how long will you be gone?"

"Not sure," he interlaced his fingers with hers, "I'm going out on the Apollo next week when it does a supply run so that'll be three weeks there. Then how long it'll take me to do the translations will depend on how much of a pain in the ass McKay is while I'm trying to help him."

Vala raised an eyebrow. "You're supposed to be helping McKay?"

"Mmmm…apparently he's got some documents in Ancient that he's having trouble translating, so Woolsey has requested my help," Daniel smirked, "much to McKay's annoyance I'm sure."

Vala snickered. "I'm sure."

He flashed an answering smile as he dropped his gaze to his fingers playing with her ring.

"Then if I come back by ship it'll be another three weeks."

He lifted his eyes to her's with a shrug. "Could be as much as three months."

Vala's smile vanished. "Three months?…couldn't you just use the 'gate?"

"That would be a waste of energy for just one person when the Apollo is going anyway. Besides if I use those three weeks out to work on the translation without McKay bugging me maybe I can get it finished it faster once I'm there."

"And when you're done could you use the 'gate to come home?" she asked quietly.

"Wouldn't bet on it." he leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers, his voice tinged with humour, "never know though, something might make it necessary depending on whether I can stand another three weeks without you in my bed."

Vala's mouth twisted into a familiar smirk. "How will you ever stand the first three weeks?"

His smirk matched hers. "Oh I'm sure a solution will come to hand."

One of his rare hints of innuendo made Vala giggle. She lifted her head back from his. His eyes caught and held hers for a long quiet moment.

"Look," Daniel said finally, "we never did rebook that week off we supposed to have when we were moving. Why don't we go see Landry and reschedule it towards the end of April and while I'm in Atlantis, you can make plans for us to go somewhere."

Vala grinned at him, pressing her hand to her chest in mock surprise.

"_You're_ going to take a real vacation?"

"Funny," he grimaced, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at her, "and yes I am…maybe while we're gone we can make some definite wedding plans….something that's right for _us_…not what those God awful magazines deem to be right."

Her grin became a brilliant smile. "I like that idea."

"Good. Then shall we go?" he rose, holding out his hand to pull her up.

Voices and laughter at the door drew their attention to the arrival of a small group of SFs.

"Oh sorry sir, didn't know there was anyone in here," one of them piped up as he and others trooped in.

Daniel made a wave of reassurance. "No problem guys. We were just leaving."

On the corridor side of the doors Daniel grabbed her elbow as she headed off in the opposite direction from him.

"Whoa, wait I thought we were going to see Landry?"

She gestured at herself. "I should probably change first. I'm not sure this is appropriate."

He considered her for a moment. He might enjoy her in the form-fitting black tank top, satin boxer shorts that showed off a lot of bare leg, her hair held up by a clip into a messy heap on top of her head like she did first thing in the morning, but he had to agree. It wasn't the best look for making a visit to the General's office.

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Good point. I'll be in my office when you're ready."

" 'K," she murmured, pressing a light kiss to his cheek as she turned to go.

Daniel stood and watched her saunter off in the direction of the locker room. Every so often he was reminded just hopeless he was for her. Like now. He hadn't even left yet and he was missing her already.


	12. late April 2009

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:** Soooo...after watching Continumm, I'm afraid the emotional development of my version and the official version don't mesh anymore...BUT I'm gonna continue anyway.

Take a look at this:(hope this link works...if it doesn't just copy and paste it into your browser's address bar)

www.sears.ca/gp/product/B000ZPO7DG/sr1-10/qid1215219014/refsr110/103-7218200-5521411?ieUTF8&searsBrandcore&mqnodeid396424011

This the inspiration for the dress mentioned in this chapter. Vala's version is pale yellow and has a row of tiny buttons down the bodice(which made it a whole lot easier for Daniel to take off then trying to pull the whole dress in the picture off over her head,lol)

Oh and spoilers for SGA S5.

Enjoy!

#

**Late April/09**

General Landry rose to his feet.

"Very good, Doctor. I'm more than satisfied at the moment. Whatever else I need to know I'm sure I'll find in," he tapped the folder on his desk, "your, as always, in-depth mission report."

The General came around his desk. "And may I just say, son, how thankful we all are that you made it home."

Daniel grimaced. "Thank you, sir. I can't tell you how thankful I am as well. I probably should know better by now than to expect a simple translation job to be non-life threatening."

Landry chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you should," he patted the archeologist's arm, "now I believe you have better things to do than hang around here today."

Daniel frowned faintly. "Well I thought I did, but I have no idea where Vala is. All I have is a brief note from her indicating that I change into these clothes and that she has the rest of my things with her. I must confess to being rather perplexed."

Smiling Landry patted Daniel's arm again. "Yes I can see how that would be puzzling," his smile deepened, "perhaps I can help."

He turned back to his desk, pressed a button on his phone and simply said, "Go".

Before Daniel even had time to wonder what that meant, a familiar brilliant white light enveloped him. The next thing he saw was the main bedroom of Jack O'Neill's cabin, the owner of the cabin lounging on the bed, clearly waiting.

"Daniel!" his long-time friend greeted him, "what took ya so long?"

"Sorry 'bout that Jack," Hank Landry, who had also materialized in the room, interjected before Daniel could say anything, "I was having trouble bringing his debriefing to an end."

Jack nodded as he got off the bed. "Ah, still having problems with the concept of the 'brief' part of 'debriefing' is he?"

"Hey!" Daniel suddenly found his voice, "I am here, ya know," his brow suddenly creased, "although I have no idea why."

"Well," Jack stopped to retrieve a small item from the dresser, "this, Danny-boy, is the day you're making a honest woman of your lady pirate."

Daniel snorted a soft laugh, "I've been trying to do that since I met her."

His brow creased as Jack stepped in front of him to pin a small bright yellow orchid to his shirtfront.

"Wait," then his eyebrows went up in surprise, "you mean here…now…dressed like this," he gestured down at himself.

Daniel had no objection to the clean, neatly pressed blue jeans and the crisp, white cotton shirt he was wearing. He was just shocked that he was getting away with such casual clothing for what apparently was his wedding.

Smirking, Jack looked over at Hank Landry, who was leaning against the dresser analyzing what Jack had done.

"See how smart our boy is Hank, guess all those PhDs have a use after all."

"I've always suspected they did Jack," Landry said walking over to stand in front of Daniel, "just like I suspect you've got this flower upside down."

The pleased expression on Jack's face faded a bit and he frowned.

"Yes well, you could be right."

There were a few moments of silence while the flower was repositioned. Landry gave the flower a final adjustment, stepped back to inspect it and then smiled in satisfaction.

"There. I think that's got it."

Daniel offered his hand. "Thank you, General."

Landry returned the handclasp. "Not at all, son. Glad to help."

He released Daniel's hand and headed for the door.

"Now if you'll excuse me I believe I am required elsewhere."

He stopped, as he was about to turn the door handle, to raise one bushy eyebrow at O'Neill. "Jack?"

"Ah, the bedroom at the end of the hall, Hank."

Daniel looked over at Jack as the door closed behind the General.

"What's he required for?"

"He's doing the 'father' type thing for Vala."

Daniel frowned. "Did she even try to find Jacek?"

Jack shrugged. "No idea. You'd have to ask her. Would he have shown up if she had found him? From what I understand he's not exactly a model father."

Daniel pursed his lips. "No he isn't, but he at least has a right to know that his daughter is getting married."

"I'd agree with ya, but when Vala came to us a month ago she was pretty adamant about what she wanted. Said that because you didn't want anything that involved wild animals or people swingin' on bars."

Daniel chuckled at that.

Jack heaved a relieved sigh. "Thank God, you understood that because the rest of us were mystified although we were all thankful you'd overruled it."

Daniel nodded. "Oh yeah I understand it, but I fail to see what it has to do with her finding Jacek."

"Just that I doubt that she woulda listened to any suggestions from us about finding her father 'cuz she'd pretty much made up her mind about how she wanted this to go."

There was a pause for a couple of beats and then Daniel blinked.

"And how does she want this to go?" he said softly.

Jack grinned, closed the space between them, and clapped Daniel on the shoulder to steer him towards the door.

"Daniel, I think you're gonna be pleasantly surprised by what she's done."

Jack paused with the door half open. "I doubt it's what you're expecting."

Daniel couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when he and Jack stepped out onto the deck behind the cabin. The last time Daniel had his feet on 'terra firma', it had been the day in late January when he left for Atlantis, the day after a snowstorm. Now three months later the snow was gone, the trees were starting to green, the sky was brilliant blue and the temperature was unusually hot for the last week of April. He pulled in a deep breath, then slowly let it out as he surveyed his surroundings. The railings around the deck were discreetly wrapped in streamers of white and varying shades of yellow and there were several clumps of balloons the same colours. Just enough decorations to indicate a celebration, but not overdone. Jack was right. This was not what he'd been expecting. Nor had he been expecting that just their closest friends would be present.

He grinned at them. "Hi guys, good to see you all."

The presence of extra people registered as Cam, Teal'c and Carolyn Lam returned his greeting. One of them he swept up in a fierce hug.

"Cassie! What a wonderful surprise!"

She laughed, returning the embrace. "You don't think I'd miss this, do you?," she stepped back to look at him, "I'm very happy for you," she leaned in to place a kiss on his cheek, "and I think Mom would be too."

He smiled softly. "Thank you."

Letting her go, he turned to extend his hand to other extra person. Colonel Andrew Sutton, Head of Chaplaincy Services for Cheyenne Mountain.

"Andrew. Good to see you too. Thanks for agreeing to this…hope you're not feeling too railroaded, Vala can be…uh," he paused with a wry smile, "rather persistent."

Andrew laughed, "So I gather, but not feeling railroaded. More pleased than anything to do this for you. I know neither of you have any actual religion beliefs, so I figure she asked me because she knows you and I are friends and she probably didn't realize there were civil options."

Daniel nodded, "No, she probably didn't. Still it's great to see you. Hope we have a chance to talk later….if you're sticking around after," he trailed off, suddenly realizing that he had no idea if there was anything else planned beyond the legal ceremony.

He huffed a small embarrassed laugh. "Although I have no idea what is after."

Jack's hand landed on his arm. "Cake, Daniel, there's cake."

He shot a look of disbelief at Jack." Just cake?"

Jack waved airily. "Well other food too, but most importantly there's cake."

"Right. Of course. I should have known that." Daniel replied dryly.

Jack grinned at him. "Yes you should have."

Shaking his head, Daniel turned his attention back to the chaplain.

Andrew nodded with a chuckle. "Well I had already been persuaded by the offer of food, but not that I know there's cake too, wild horses couldn't drag me away."

The barely audible 'or undomesticated equines' comment from one of the others made a smile twitch at Daniel's mouth.

"Besides," the chaplain continued, " I got here by means of some freaky Star Trek kinda beam and I've got a hunch that's also how I'll be getting home."

"Good hunch." Daniel laughed along with the others.

The swish of the screen door from the cabin opening refocused everyone's attention. In the moment before anyone emerged Daniel was conscious of Andrew shuffling he and Jack into a position to face him. After that it felt like time had stopped and so had his heart. He wondered briefly if insanity could kill him. Time and his heart started again when Sam stepped from the cabin in a dress that echoed the colour of her hair. Then an exquisite creature, looking like a beam of sunlight emerged from the cabin and Daniel forgot how to breathe.

Vala stopped at his side, tilting up to him the softest, most beautiful smile he had ever seen from her. He had missed her. His hand rose, almost of it's own volition, to cup her cheek. The skin under his hand was warm, soft and familiar. He looked down into her eyes and smiled back. Everything else faded into oblivion at that point, except her and the words they were saying to each other. Words pledging love and devotion to each other for the rest of this lifetime. Then he was sliding the slim white gold band on her finger and getting lost in the lush sweetness of her mouth for the first time in three months. Then a sudden weight landed on his head.

Reluctantly he pulled away from her. A cloud of tiny dots of coloured paper cascaded around him and a stream of little bubbles floated by them. He caught sight of Jack's grinning face out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face the older man, more of the confetti spilling onto his shoulders and down to the ground. He tried to glare at Jack but he was simply too happy to be actually annoyed.

He raised an eyebrow at his best friend. "Jack."

The General grinned. "Daniel."

"Was that really necessary?"

Still grinning, Jack nodded. "You betcha. Figured you two needed air."

"Thanks Jack," he said dryly, "your concern for our well-being is overwhelming."

His friend grinned and patted his arm. "No problem Daniel. As a matter-a-fact," he paused to take the two glass flutes of champagne Sam was handing him, "after exchanging spit for so long, ya probably both need some liquid too."

Both of Daniel's eyebrows went up. "Exchanging spit, Jack? A little crass even for you doncha think?"

"Just calling 'em the way I see 'em Daniel, now shush. I supposed to say somethin' deep here."

Daniel snorted a laugh at the improbability of that as Jack turned towards the rest of the gathering.

"Everybody got champagne?"

Receiving a positive response from the others, Jack glanced at the two beside him, his expression sobering.

"Okay, so when I was in school…back when dinosaurs walked the Earth…we had to memorize poetry. Now as a kid I was into hockey in every form possible, so memorizin' poetry ranked right up there with dancing during gym class, but we hadda do it. One year I got something that Browning guy wrote. I used to know it all, but I'm an old now and my brain's been messed with a lot so all I 'member is the first two lines," he paused in thought for a moment, "went something like: 'grow old along with me, the best is yet to be'."

Jack turned directly to them and considered them for a moment, then raised his glass.

"To Dr. and _Mrs_.," he winked at Vala, "Jackson; may _you_ grow old together and may _your_ best be yet to be."

There were a few murmurings of 'hear, hear,' from the others and the tinkle of glasses.

Jack put his glass down and, grinned at everyone, rubbing his hand together in glee.

"Now for cake."

A few moments later Jack had shepherded everyone else inside, leaving Daniel and Vala alone on the deck.

"Hi," she gave him a brilliant smile that he recognized was touched with uncertainty.

He closed the space between them, regarding her with a soft, focused gaze.

"Hi yourself."

"Mad?" she asked, hesitantly nibbling at her bottom lip.

His eyebrows went up in surprise. "Mad? About what?"

"This," she waved at everything around them.

He shook his head. "No. God no, Vala. Why would I be?"

She shrugged. "I didn't give you any warning and, I made choices without consulting you."

"Yeah, but I'm not mad about it. Not at all. Stunned that you decided you were comfortable going this fast, but not mad," he gave her a teasing smirk and tapped her nose, "now if you had surprised me with something big and complicated that involved wild animals and people swinging on bars, then I would've been mad, but this," he stopped to take in their surroundings.

Brilliant blue sky, trees barely green and alive with birdsong, enough of a breeze to keep the unusual heat from being stifling and the murmur of conversation and laughter from their friends inside the cabin.

Daniel closed his eyes as he let out a long, deep sigh of contentment.

He opened his eyes again and smiled at her.

"I can't think of a better way to come home. This is," he exhaled another soft sigh, "is positively life-affirming."

Vala looked closely at him, her brow furrowing. "Daniel?"

He gave her another soft smile. Just as he could hear things unspoken in her voice, she could hear them in his. He put their glasses of champagne next to the bottle on the small table.

He held out his hand. "C'mon, lets walk."

He lead her off the deck and along the trail around the pond that lead into the forest surrounding the cabin. They walked in silence for a few moments.

"I almost didn't make it back this time." he began quietly.

Vala huffed a laugh. "And that's different how?"

Daniel stopped, turned to her, taking her hands in his.

"I'm serious, Vala. If Sheppard hadn't gotten to us first, McKay and I would've been Wraith nourishment.

She blanched, her hands clutched at his.

He made a slight nod with his head "Yeah, exactly," he dropped his gaze to their joined hands, "but as terrifying as that prospect was, the one thing I kept thinking was that I'd let you down."

"Daniel, you've never…"

Raising his eyes to her with a shake of his head, he cut her off.

"I did, Vala. After everything I said in January about needing to know you were safe I went off to Atlantis without doing so, blithely assuming that a simple translation job wouldn't be life-threatening."

He exhaled a harsh laugh. "I should know by now, no mission is ever simple or non-life threatening."

A soft smile settled on his face and he touched her cheek with gentle fingers. "You have no idea, once we got back to Atlantis, how much I wanted to come home through the 'gate so I didn't have to wait any longer to marry you."

Her eyes went wide. "Oh! Well as much as I would've been overjoyed by that I'm kinda glad you didn't, you would've ruined my surprise."

The soft smile deepened making the dimple in his cheek flash.

"Right and that would have been awful because this has been an amazing surprise," he finished softly, drawing the backs of his fingers over her cheek.

He slid his hands along each cheek into her hair, tilting her gaze up to his.

"And you're amazing…and gorgeous….and."

He stopped unable to say anymore past the sudden flood of gratitude and love for her that choked his throat. He leaned down to press his mouth to hers with a tenderness that brought a soft whimper from the back of Vala's throat as she moulded herself to him.

They parted slowly, exchanging soft lingering kisses.  
"We should go back." Vala murmured.

"We should," he agreed, placing soft kisses across her forehead, "before Jack sends out a search party."

She nodded. "Plus, I'm starving, this pulling off a surprise wedding has given me quite the appetite."

Daniel chuckled. "Now there's something that's not a surprise."

They retraced the trail back to the cabin, arriving to find a table spread with various snacks, beverages including several new bottles of champagne and a collection of gifts piled at one end. The two wood Adirondack chairs at the end of the table closest to the presents were obviously for them.

"Ya know, Daniel," Jack observed with a smirk while they made their way on to the deck, "most guys can hold themselves back until the wedding night, kinda surprised that you felt you needed to drag her off to the woods."

Ignoring the laughter from the rest of the group, Daniel shot a sideways glance at the older man as he loaded a plate with a selection of the food on the table.  
"Funny, Jack. We went for a walk so we could talk."

"Pretty lame defense Daniel," Sam piped up, "last time you claimed you two were just talking, it looked a whole lot more to me like you were necking."

Sliding into one of the wood chairs, the archeologist gave his surrogate sister a grimace.

"Thanks for the support, Sam."

The blond grinned at him. "That's what friends are for Daniel."

"Especially mine apparently," he replied dryly, putting a chunk of dip-laden pita bread in his mouth.

Under the wave of laughter from everyone else he glanced at Vala as she plopped into the chair beside him with a laden plate.

"This tastes like Kazeem's." he observed quietly.

She beamed. "It is Kazeem's. He's contributed several things actually. You should have seen his face light up when I told him about this. He was ready to drive up here and cater the whole thing."

Daniel laughed. "I'm sure. We'll have to drop in and thank him when we get home."

She nodded happily. "Absolutely, just don't be surprised if we end up being treated to a free meal too."

He gave her a reproving look. "Vala, that would be…"

"Hey," she jumped in, "not my idea. Kazeem was almost insisting on it."

The sound of a throat being cleared stopped anything Daniel was about to say. They both looked up to find the others watching them with faint amusement.

"Ya know, if we're intruding…"Jack smirked at them.

Daniel shook his head. "Not at all, Jack. We were just talking.

"You know," he continued with gracious sarcasm, "like we were," he waved a hand in the direction of the forest, "earlier."

"Right, okay then, so moving on," Jack nodded, rising and glancing around at the rest of the gathering.

"Now, seein' as how this is my place, I'm technically the host of this shindig, therefore I get to control the proceedings. Besides which I was CO to the members of the original team present here, and they always obey my directives without question."

That brought an outburst of laughter. He continued despite that.

"Plus I know if I don't give you bunch some sort of guidance you'll spend the afternoon talkin' and drinkin' and we'll never get to the cake."

"So kids," he waved his hand between Daniel and Vala and the collection of gifts before them, "have at it."

Grinning Vala, scooted forward in her chair to pluck up a gift bag tied with silver ribbon.

"I already know what this one from Carolyn is, so I'll start here." she said untying the ribbon.

"And how many of the others do you know too?" Daniel asked dryly.

She cast a glance at him, ignoring the teasing sarcasm in his voice.

"None, darling. I only know this one because I've already been putting stuff in it."

She pulled a wedding album out of the bag and handed it to him.

He flipped through it as she opened another gift.

"I can see I'm going to have add my own version of some of these events," he said scanning some of what she had already entered on the pages.

He looked over at Vala's 'oh' of surprised delight, just as a camera flashed in his eyes.

Blinking rapidly he grimaced at the photographer. "Thanks Sam."

The blond smirked and raised the camera to her eye again.

He made a face at her, looking down quickly at the box Vala was examining to avoid being blinded again. He squinted at it.

"What is that?"

She threw a glance at him. "It's a 'Wii', Daniel."

"A what?"

She glanced at him again. "A 'Wii', it's a computer gaming system."

"And this is exciting why?"

"Oh it'll just be fun mostly, there's all sorts of games we can play on it."

She turned to look directly at him with a playful smirk. "And on those rare occasions when I can't entice you away from your books and into bed, I'll have something else to do."

Daniel's face went pink, his eyebrows went up and he stared at her. "Rare?"

Then his expression changed. A smug smile tugged at his mouth making the dimples in his cheeks flutter.

"Wait, though…shouldn't this also mean that if you've got something else to do then I won't have to fend you off quite as much?"

There was chorus of laughter from the others that Daniel joined in with when Vala stuck her tongue out at him.

Chuckling, he reached for another box. Carefully he detached the paper.

Vala sighed. "Daniel, stop fussing, this isn't a priceless artifact. Just take the paper off."

He blocked her arm before she could rip at the paper.

"The paper can be reused, Vala."

She huffed a laugh. "And when are we likely to reuse wedding paper?"

Daniel caught her gaze over the top of his glasses, flicked his eyes in the direction of the other tentative couples amongst their friends and then back to her.

He shrugged. "Hmm, you never know."

She grinned. "Point taken."

Nodding, he detached the last piece of tape. The paper came away from the box. They both stared at it. They both looked over to Jack.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Uh thanks Jack…but you know we already have a TV in the family room."

"Yes well, I thought you could put this one somewhere else…the bedroom perhaps"

Vala snorted a laugh. "Don't know about you Jack, but we have better things to do in the bedroom than watch TV."

"Right," Daniel nodded in agreement as he reached for another box, "like read."

Vala's hand landed on his arm with a smack. Flashing a wide innocent smile at her as the others burst into laughter, he unfastened the paper from the box. He frowned in puzzlement when the wrapping fell away. He glanced at his younger 'sister.'

"A second one Sam? Did you guys not consult with each other before you bought stuff?"

Sam shifted the camera away from her face to grin at him. "We did."

Daniel narrowed his eyes in thought. He glanced around the deck at his former teammates, who were all trying to hide smirks. Clearly something was going on.

"Look at it this way Daniel," Jack grinned at him, "Now you've got something to use the second TV for."

The archeologist stared at his best friend's smug expression. They were definitely up to something. Daniel glanced at Vala, catching her eye with a questioning eyebrow. She shook her head with a shrug as she examined the gift bag from Cassie full of selection of software for the gaming system. Feeling a little wary, Daniel unwrapped the last box from the table. He studied the box, trying to decipher exactly what it was.

"It's called 'Wii Fit' darling, it goes with the main console," Vala turned the box over and pointed at the illustrations on the bottom, "see it's a balance board that can be used for different types of workouts."

"Oh okay, "he said, making a negative motion with his head, " but why? We have the gyms at the base for workouts."

"We thought it'd be a useful addition to your home gym."

Frowning and shaking his head, Daniel looked over at Cameron.

"But we don't have a home gym and since we've got the gyms at work why would we put one in."

Daniel watched his closest friends exchange amused glances. The wide cheesy grin on Jack O'Neill's face made him particularly nervous.

"Two words, Daniel. 'Sparring matches'"

Cassandra Fraiser, who had just finished a long and intense year of college, had been, up to this point, content to sit in the sun, sip champagne and listen to her somewhat dysfunctional adopted family lovingly hassle each other. She couldn't contain her curiosity though as to why Jack's last statement made Daniel go bright red and Vala collapse against his shoulder in laughter.

"Okay wait," Cassie jumped in, casting questioning glances at her late mother's best friends, "what exactly are you guys saying?"

Jack grinned. "Just that sparring matches between these two," he gestured at the newlyweds, "are not encouraged at the base."

"Yeah," Cam added, laughing, "things tend to get...uhh…'overheated'."

"Indeed," Teal'c intoned, brown eyes alight with mirth. "I recall the last time witnessing a considerable lack of space between each other and the wall."

That sent five of the six teammates into gales of laughter.

"Well," Vala smirked at her new husband, "if Daniel's male ego would simply accept that I kicked his ass fair and square the first time we wouldn't keep replaying the whole thing."

Daniel looked up from the envelope he had taken from the last gift bag on the table to stare at her in disbelief.

"Fair and square, Vala? You rammed a fire extinguisher into my crotch!"

Despite the background gasps of laughter from the others, her smirk faded a bit and she managed to look vaguely contrite.

"Well yes, that might have been below the belt, but you did hit me."

He gaped at her. "You hit me first!"

She leaned towards him, her elbow on the arm of the chair, her chin resting in the hand of the bent arm; her smile brightened and she gazed at him almost adoringly.

"Yes I did, but look where it got us."

He regarded her for a moment, tightening his mouth into what he hoped was a stern line. It didn't work for long. He couldn't help responding to the lovelight in her blue-grey eyes. Shaking his head, amusement twitched at his mouth, making his dimples flash, he dropped his gazed to the envelope in his hand. He looked up again a moment later, brow creased in puzzlement.

"Uh thanks Teal'c, a donation to the MS Society in our name is great, and not meaning to sound rude but is there something special about this amount, it's kinda unusual to do an amount down to the exact cent."

Vala leaned closer to study the paper in Daniel's hand.

"Oh," she said brightly, glancing across at Teal'c, "is that money from the betting pool Muscles?"

"It is," he replied with a faint bow of his head.

She looked back to Daniel eyeing her with a raised eyebrow.

"Betting pool Vala?"

"Yes Daniel, you knew there's been a betting pool on when we would finally hook up since I first came through the 'gate."

He grimaced. "I had conveniently forgotten," his eyes narrowed, "Please tell me it wasn't your doing?"

"No silly, of course not, although I was intrigued. Unfortunately Sergeant Lewis wouldn't let me take part, seemed to think I would have an unfair advantage."

"Go figure." Daniel snorted a laugh as he removed the last item from the gift bag.

He stared at the unmarked silvery, metallic disc inside the plastic case. He raised puzzled eyes to Teal'c again.

"Teal'c…a CD?"

"A DVD would be a more apt description DanielJackson as it holds images, not music."

Daniel's brow creased further. "Images of?"

"Our time on the Odyssey."

Four of the six people that experienced that time stared him.

"Umm Teal'c," Daniel finally said, "I thought you weren't supposed to tell us anything about that so our future wouldn't be influenced."

"That is so, but as you two have now chosen your future I felt that the memories that Samantha helped me extract to this disc would be appreciated."

Cam laughed. "So Teal'c ya figure if you show them how often they were ready to kill each other while we were stuck on that damn ship, they'll appreciate what they've got now?"

Teal'c shook his head. "On the contrary ColonelMitchell. For most of those fifty years, DanielJackson and ValaMalDoran were not interested in doing harm to each other."

The entire group fell silent.

"Teal'c are you saying that Daniel and I were together for those fifty years?" Vala finally asked in disbelief.

The Jaffa smiled. "I am."

The newlyweds stared at each other. So many moments from the past year came into focus. Fragments of memories, pieces of conversations, impressions of intimacy had not been wishful thinking or fantasies. All had been real whispers of the bond that was true between them in any lifetime.

Reluctantly Daniel pulled his gaze away from hers after a moment to meet his friend's pleased brown eyes.

"Uhh…wow Teal'c, that's…that's quite a revelation. So is this," he gestured with the disc, "a 'for our eyes only' kinda thing or can we share it?"

"You may share it if you wish. As Samantha was assisting me I made certain to focus only on the memories of you two. I do not believe there is anything happening in the background that could influence anyone else's future."

"Uhh….okay, good." Daniel nodded in understanding, dropping his gaze to the case in his hands.

He looked back up at Teal'c a second later. "Thanks Teal'c, this is extraordinary."

Teal'c's smile deepened and he inclined his head in slight bow. "You are most welcome."

Nodding again, Daniel let his gaze travel around his friends and family gathered there.

"Actually, thank all of you for this," he said softly, "this has all been quite," his gaze came to rest on Vala beside him. Moving his hand to intertwine with hers resting on the chair arm he smiled at her, "extraordinary."

She beamed back at him and suddenly he was engulfed by the same wave of gratitude and relief to be home as he had been in the forest. He blinked at her, unable to say anything past the lump in his throat. Her eyes narrowed slightly, then she smiled in silent understanding, squeezed his hand, and glanced at each of their friends quickly as she jumped seamlessly in before anyone else noticed his hesitation.

"I agree. Your part in helping me pull this together as been," she paused, casting a smile at her new husband, "as Daniel says 'extraordinary'. Thank you all too for putting up with me for the past month."

In the brief few beats before anyone could say anything Jack jumped to his feet and rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"And now for cake."

Within a few minutes the mess from unwrapping gifts was cleared and Jack had placed on the table, two small round single-layer cakes covered in smooth, flawless sheets of white icing and topped with flowers identical to the one pinned to Daniel's shirt.

"Two?" the archeologist asked, swinging a glance between Vala and Jack.

"Yes well," Jack answered, "it was a compromise. Most of us felt that a chocolate cake would be your preference, but,"

"But," Vala suddenly interrupted, "when I found out that fruitcake is traditional I just knew that given your absorption with out-of-date customs, fruitcake," she paused looking at him with a blossoming smirk, "just seemed appropriate."

Her smirk had become a full-blown grin and Daniel couldn't help the corresponding one that spread across his face.

"Yup, absolutely appropriate."

"So what Daniel," Jack said in surprise, "you're saying you want the fruitcake?

Daniel shot an amused look at Jack.

"Yes Jack," he brought his gaze back to Vala with a bright smile, "I want the fruitcake."

The faint pink that flooded Vala's face made him want to take her elsewhere so he could make her whole body flush with pink. Reluctantly giving himself a mental shake to shove that impulse aside until later he looked back to Jack, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"But we do need a knife to cut them."

Jack's own eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Oh right."

He was back from the cabin a few moments later. Daniel looked with disbelief at the item Jack held

"Your Bowie knife, Jack?"

Jack shrugged. "Hey, it's sharp, it's clean and 'sides, given what you two do for a living, it's fitting doncha think?"

"Good point," Daniel chuckled, standing and pulling Vala up beside him.

Together, despite much kibitzing from their friends and the flashing of Sam's camera, they divided both cakes amongst the gathering, sharing pieces of the traditional cake with each other after the rest of the group had been served.

The afternoon passed with laughter and conversation. The snacks gave way to an eclectic dinner of Middle Eastern fare, Vietnamese dishes, steaks grilled to perfection by Cam and more champagne. At sunset, goodbyes were exchanged and the brilliant white beam of light returned General Landry, Carolyn Lam and Andrew Sutton to the SGC. The rapidly cooling April night sent the remaining group indoors.

Daniel settled into one of the large easy-chairs, Vala draped across his lap. He supposed some people would consider it odd that he and Vala would not be spending their wedding night completely alone, but he was content. This was home and spending the rest of the evening quietly watching movies with their family seemed to fit the entire uncomplicated, laid-back mood of the day. About the only thing that was making him feel slightly discontented with there being other people around was Vala's persistent nuzzling at his neck.

Around about dinner time he had realized a few things. First, Vala had consumed a lot of champagne. Second, she didn't seem to have the same tolerance for it that she had for other alcoholic beverages. Third, her innate Australian-like accent that had been softening the longer she was on Earth, came in thick and strong when she drank heavily. It had been difficult to stop himself wondering how his name would sound in that thick, husky accent when she climaxed. The fourth thing he realized made it even tougher to stop himself wanting to hear his name on her lips. Even when she was her most low-key self she was a still an outrageous verbal flirt. She could inject innuendo into almost everything she said…and almost anything he said too for that matter. She didn't, however, usually engage in blatant physical passes…except with him when they were alone. He'd come to figure it was a defense mechanism. It was a whole lot easier to get out of a sexually-charged situation if you could claim your words had been misunderstood then if your physical actions had been obvious. Apparently though when she'd consumed enough alcohol to be actually drunk she had no qualms about making outright physical passes.

He had come to that realization during dinner when her hand that had been resting lightly on his leg near his knee for most of the afternoon settled along the high inside curve of his thigh. It was the way the backs of her fingers kept brushing against the zipper of his jeans that made it almost impossible for him to stop thinking about listening to that husky, exotic accent while they made love. He had hoped that with the move into the cabin along with the champagne being gone she'd become a little more circumspect. After being intimately involved with her for almost a year though he should have known better. Once she knew she was getting a response from him; and after repeatedly brushing her fingers over the zipper of his jeans, how could she not know he was responding to the touch, she would keep pressing her advantage. Which at that moment involved having the top buttons of his shirt undone, her head nestled into the curve of his neck so her breath barely danced across his collarbone and the fingers of one hand softly ghosting over the skin bared by the undone buttons. Not that he could find any motivation to object, her touches were feather-light and he was savoring the shivers of anticipation curling around his spine.

Half an hour into the movie though he became aware that her hand was no longer roaming over his chest and her breath against his neck was softly rhythmic. He shifted slightly, trying to see her face. His movement brought an answer from Cam on the other side of the room.

"She's either asleep or passed out Jackson. Has been for the last ten minutes or so."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Daniel shifted forward in the chair. Vala exhaled a sigh and tried to burrow further into his arms.

"Vala."

"…sleepy Daniel," she sighed, nuzzling against his neck.

"I know, sweetheart," he murmured, "put your arms around my neck and I'll take you into bed."

"'K," came out like a caress on his skin.

With her arms snugly looped around his neck, he hooked an arm under her knees, the other arm under her arms and pushed himself to stand.

He flashed a grimace at his friends.

"She's not as light as she seems."

Soft laughter came from the group.

"Night all," Daniel said quietly as he made his way out of the living room.

A chorus of 'night' followed him down the hall. The last thing he heard just before he pushed the bedroom door shut with his foot was an admonishment from Jack, to "try to keep the noise level down though okay."

www.sears.ca/gp/product/B000ZPO7DG/sr1-10/qid1215219014/refsr110/103-7218200-5521411?ieUTF8&searsBrandcore&mqnodeid396424011


	13. late April 2009 cont'd

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: Sorry it's taken me so long to post this...I've struggled with this chapter for almost a month...it's unbetaed because once I finally finished it I just wanted to get it posted...so spelling/grammar etc errors are all mine.

There was an...um...issue hinted at during their 'first time'..._it _becomes more than a hint here.

Oh and in case you don't want to reread the previous chapter may I just refresh...the previous chapter was their wedding ceremony and this chapter picks up directly after the end of the previous chapter. So be aware this chapter definitely has 'M' scenes.

Oh and I REALLY need to thank those lucky, lovely individuals who put up with my whining in the last month...Mag(infinitespacekjunky), Kris(fluffypigeon) and Nat(natalia5345)...thanks ladies.

Hope everyone likes this one.

**late April 2009 cont'd**

Leaning one bent knee on the surface of the bed, Daniel eased her down to it

Leaning one bent knee on the surface of the bed, Daniel eased her down to it. Her eyes fluttered slightly, but didn't open and a vague smile touched the corners of her mouth.

"Daniel," she breathed.

"Mmmm," he stroked her hair back from her face.

"Love you," came out in the same breathy voice.

He stooped to press a kiss to her forehead. "Love you too Vala."

Straightening, he ran caressing fingers across her cheek. "Can you take your dress off?"

Another faint smile touched her mouth and she exhaled a faint. "Mmmm," as he turned away to undress.

It took until his shirt and jeans were on the floor to realize she hadn't said anything else and there had been no movement from the bed. He turned back to her. She was in exactly the same position he'd laid her down in and appeared to be sound asleep. Shaking his head he sat down beside her. This wasn't exactly how he'd pictured their wedding night. Actually this entire day hadn't been how he'd thought their wedding would go. For one thing he'd expected a battle to keep it simple. He also hadn't expected her to opt to do it so quickly, given how uncertain she'd been about them being married at all. Trust Vala to throw a curve at him. Not that he objected to any of the choices she'd made. The simplicity had been exactly right for them. A quiet, secluded place with just their closest friends present for their formal, vows of commitment to each other. Anything else would have been unnecessary. Sighing softly, he ran a hand over her hair. She really was beautiful. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off her from the moment she stepped out of the cabin onto the deck in the pale yellow lace dress. She looked like a ray of warm, bright sunshine in his otherwise dusty life.

He reached to undo the tiny pearl-sized buttons that ran from the low v-neckline to the waist of the dress. Even his usually nimble fingers fumbled a little with the delicate fastenings. A wry smile passed over his mouth. Good thing he was able to go slowly. The buttons would've been on the floor if he'd been trying to undo them in the heat of the moment. The last tiny button slipped from its hole and the bodice separated into two. Daniel's breath faltered. Again her choices caught him unawares. On any given day she wore colourful provocative underwear, most often red or black, even under her BDUs. The lace and satin, virginal white bra that clung to her curves was unexpected and erotic. He traced the top swell of her breasts with a light fingertip. She didn't stir. He exhaled a soft laugh. This was going to be a replay of stripping the cat-suit off her when they were on the Prometheus. Except, of course, this time he didn't have to squelch his physical reactions to the sight and the feel of her under his hands.

Shifting slightly to be more firmly seated on the bed, he grasped the underside of her forearms near the elbows and gently pulled her upright into his arms. Her head nestled into the juncture of his neck and shoulder. A soft sigh of breath fanned across his skin, sending a tingle down his spine to his groin. This might actually be worse than Prometheus. At least that time his body's reactions to her had been based on lust which he'd always been able to ignore. This time his reactions were from love and lust and being away from her for three months. He was going to be aching for her by the time her dress was off and she was going to be mostly asleep.

Heaving a resigned sigh, he wrapped one arm around her shoulder while nudging the armhole of the sleeveless dress off her shoulder and down her arm with his free hand He repeated the action for the other arm. The bodice slid to her waist, baring smooth porcelain skin to his touch. He shifted her slightly in his arms to remove her bra. His fingers fumbled a moment as he was undoing the clip when her head moved against his neck, lips barely grazing his skin. Tendrils of heat curled through him, pooling low in his belly. Despite that distraction he had the fastener undone with a quick twist. For a split second he allowed himself a flash of pride at how adept he'd become at doing that. Then her breasts were spilling from the delicate white garment and he couldn't stop himself taking the soft weight of one in his free hand. Lightly he drew his thumb lightly over the silky tip, watching it pebble under his touch. She sighed, making an odd movement that seemed to make the warm mound swell into his hand. He couldn't help the small murmur of want that escaped from him. God, he'd missed her. Her warmth and laughter and all the ways she filled his life with light. He had missed this too. Missed the daily opportunity to let all the stress of their work fall away to just love each other. Throughout the whole ordeal in Atlantis the one thing that kept him pushing to survive was the need to be home with her, to love her, to get lost in her.

Easing her back onto the bed, he followed her down to trail light kisses along her throat to the pulse that fluttered in the hollow between her collarbones. He lingered there nipping gently at the pulse, rubbing tip of his tongue against it. She whimpered. The sound made him smile against her skin as he began a meander of kisses across her chest to his palm skimming over the stiff peak of her breast. Slowly he lapped his tongue over it until it almost seemed to be quivering. She made another low whimpering sound, twisting toward him, impatient as ever to have his whole mouth on her. He had to smile again. Even mostly asleep she was still trying to steer the proceedings. Not this time. This time he was going to satisfy the deep-down want to pleasure her that she was usually too impatient to allow.

He reached to stroke his free hand over her other breast, only to encounter the bra that hadn't been discarded yet. It quickly joined his shirt and jeans on the floor. With it gone he skimmed his palm over her breast until the nipple was as rigid as the one he was flicking at with his tongue. Her breath catching at the touch of his hand and mouth on her skin, she squirmed restlessly. Not wanting to wake her completely, Daniel eased his mouth away from her, nuzzling soft caresses over the bottom curve of her breast to the satin skin of her belly.

The scrape of lace against his mouth reminded him she was still partially clothed. He straightened to a sitting position to decide the easiest way to remove the dress. Staring down at his hands while he considered the options, he watched her breasts as he fondled them, warm and satin-like under his fingers, he sometimes found himself mesmerized by the way they filled his hands and responded to his touch. Like now. He grimaced as he gave himself a mental shake. Right. Needed to stay focused on taking the dress off.

He stood and moved to the end of the bed. Pushing the dress away from her feet, he had to shake his head at her shoes. Barely-there pale yellow sandals with what had to be 4-inch heels. He should have recognized why he hadn't had to lean down to kiss her quite as much as he usually did. How she'd walked in the forest without sinking into the soft ground was beyond him. With a fingertip he traced the single narrow strap that secured the sandal across her instep, gliding along the arch of her foot to the strap that fastened around her ankle. It wasn't until they became physically involved that he had realized just how finely-boned she was. The persona she presented was always so confident and tough that he had found himself startled by how truly feminine she was. He couldn't fault her weakness for sky-high heels, since he had a weakness for her wearing them. They made her feet and legs look so exquisitely delicate and sleek…it was hard to not fantasize about having those long, sensuous legs wrapped around him. Reluctantly, despite the obvious need to not wear shoes to bed, he raised her foot up, unfastening the strap to remove the shoe and ease it to the floor. He didn't even consider fighting the temptation to press his mouth to the tiny pulse that fluttered at her ankle. Or the lure of continuing the caresses along her calf to the sensitive spot behind her knee where another pulse beat. The urge to push the dress aside so he could continue trailing soft kisses up the silky length of her thigh was equally overwhelming, but there was still the matter of the other stiletto. Pressing a light nipping kiss to the back of her knee that made her leg twitch, he eased her leg down to the bed, shifting slightly to complete the removal of the other shoe. This time he didn't stop himself from continuing the path of kisses and caresses up the inside of her thigh as he pushed the dress up to her hips. His pulse became a hard, slow thrum in his groin when pushing the dress up revealed a tiny white satin and lace g-string. He bit back a moan. Did she know that scraps of satin and lace that were completely opposite to her usual attire would get to him? He laughed at himself. Stupid question. Of course she knew. There wasn't much she didn't know about manipulating a man's libido…especially his. He couldn't help wondering though if she understood the symbolism of presenting herself to him in virginal colours on their wedding night after they'd been apart for three months. Again he laughed at himself. Figured, he'd be noticing cultural symbolism, when most men wouldn't be focused on anything beyond getting the beautiful woman in their bed naked.. He really did think too much sometimes. Still it was helping him ignore the little voice in the back of his head that was insisting that he simply tear the g-string from her body and bury himself in her. The fleeting thought being encased in tight, wet heat made him ache. He pressed his mouth into a grim line, catching the inside of his bottom lip between his teeth, hoping it would to distract him from how much he wanted to be inside her.

Pulling in what was meant to be a calming breath and then letting it out again, he moved onto the bed, kneeling between her legs and then resting back on his haunches. He tilted his head to one side studying the dress. The top half was around her waist, the skirt portion was around her waist. All he had to do was get it past her hips. Daniel reached forward, gathering the edges of the waistband in both hands. Slowly he began to ease it over her hips, then stopped. This wasn't going to happen without her help.

"Val," he called quietly, jostling her slightly, "need you to lift your hips sweetheart."

Her eyes flickered opened. She blinked sleepily at him, her gaze dark and languid. A smile touched his mouth. Languid? Now, there was a word he wouldn't normally use to describe Vala. He'd never seen her this buzzed before. He was definitely going to have to keep a supply of champagne at home. It looked like it was the only way she'd ever let him go slow.

A soft smile spread over her mouth and her hips rose off the bed.

"That's my girl." he whispered, returning the smile.

He pushed the fabric in his hands past her hips and down her legs, his breath hitching as his fingers encountered the heat emanating through the wisp of satin and lace that covered her. His breath caught again when her knee rubbed against his tented briefs. He lifted his gaze to hers. Her eyes glittered at him from under heavy lids.

Shaking his head, he purposely moved off the end of the bed, scooping up the dress as he went. He turned briefly to toss it across the dresser behind him. She was still watching him from under hooded eyelids when he came back to the bed. Her foot rose to graze slowly over the front of his briefs. He pulled her foot away and shook his head.

A pout passed over her mouth then her eyes closed as he kneaded his thumb into the arch of her foot. It wasn't long into their relationship when he discovered that a foot massage could almost put her to sleep. Smiling, he pressed his lips to the spot he was rubbing. The foot in his hand flexed and she breathed out a whispery sigh. He shifted his hold slightly to trace small kisses up to the tiny pulse at her ankle. Her foot flexed again and again she sighed. Slowly he let his mouth drift away from her ankle to graze lightly up the silky length of her leg. At the crease where her leg joined her torso he discovered what was holding the delicate g-string in place. Small satin-covered clips. He chuckled. Should have known that Vala would make sure that her last undergarment would be easy to remove. Wouldn't have surprised him either if the g-string had turned out to be crotchless. That made him pause. The thought of how effortless that would've made sliding into her velvety heat at that exact moment made his whole body tighten. Biting back a groan he forced himself to focus on the clip. It came apart at the touch of his fingers. He brushed the two pieces aside, his fingers skimming the damp tendrils at the edge of the cloud of dark curls between her legs. He lowered his head to trace the crease at her hip with the tip of his tongue. The skin was warm and soft and tasted faintly of the salt of perspiration. He pushed the slip of fabric further aside, turning his head to nuzzle into the cluster of dark hair. The musky suggestion of female arousal drifted to him. Pulled at him. Beckoned him to touch her, to taste her. He pressed his mouth to the nest of dark curls, fumbling for a moment while he undid the other clip. It slid apart in his hand. Drawing away from her only far enough to completely pull the piece of fabric off her, he knelt on the bed between her legs, letting the one he held drape against his shoulder. He turned his head to the bent leg supported by his shoulder, raining delicate nips and kisses up the tender inner surface of her thighs, along the edge of dark curls, and the down the other thigh. Leisurely he retraced his path, stopping when he reached the drift of soft hair. Sliding his fingers through the curls to stroke the velvet folds of skin beyond, he smiled at her soft murmur of pleasure. He eased a finger into the pool of slick heat. Her murmur became a low-level hum and her hips rolled insistently into his touch. Lowering his head he nuzzled gently into the cleft between her legs. With his free hand he spread the folds of skin apart, stroking his tongue along the inner surfaces. Instantly she tensed.

"Daniel." her voice came out sleepy, unsure and questioning.

"Shhhh," he crooned, sliding his fingers out of her to hold her hips still, "shhh, sweetheart….just let me…."

She whimpered in the back of her throat as he caressed over the tiny nub with the flat of his tongue.

"Daniel," she breathed, writhing under the sensation, "don't…"

"…so sweet, so soft," he murmured tightening his grasp on her hip, holding her close, stroking his tongue over and around the swollen peak of flesh.

The taste, feel and aroma of her engulfed him, shutting out coherent thought except the desire to give this to her.

Suddenly she exhaled a long, soft gasp. Her hands fluttered into his hair to clutch at his head. That was all he needed. He pushed his mouth against her, his tongue snaking in to lick quickly over slick inner flesh. A barely-audible whispered plea came out with a catch in it. He repeated the action, mimicking the motion of his tongue with his fingers stroking over the spot near the swollen, rigid nub that always pulled a low urgent groan from her. Her hips shifted, her hands tightened in his hair and she pushed herself hard against his mouth. It took him a second to realize she was holding him in place to have his tongue rubbing against that spot. He could feel the desperate tension building in her echoed in the heavy ache between his legs. He couldn't stop himself. The brush of his briefs over sensitive skin was like her palm skimming over him. He pushed his hips into the bed, rubbing over the sheets. He swallowed a heavy groan, forcing himself to stop before he completely lost his focus on her. He folded his hand around the soft fullness of her breast, tweaking lightly at the nipple. Her breath caught, her fingers clenched at his hair, she ground herself against his mouth almost painfully for him. He pushed hard into that spot, manipulating deeply with his tongue as he rolled and twisted her nipple between his fingers. Her hips jerked and for a split second he thought she'd stopped breathing. Then she shattered, flooding his tongue with warm musk, her body trembling around him, his name falling from her mouth in a soft ragged whisper. He released her quickly laying beside her, cradling her in his embrace even before her body had stilled.

He gazed down at her, brushing away with a finger a single tear that tracked down her cheek.

"Shhh…nothing to cry about" he soothed, "you're beautiful cara …I love you so much."

He pressed butterfly kisses across her brow while he listened to her breathing quiet, content in the moment. He might still be fully aroused but the desperate need for satisfaction would abate and his body would relax. For now it was enough that he was safely home with his arms wrapped around his new wife. There was no need to rush.

Daniel made a brief movement off the bed to turn off the light and pull the sheets up from where they had been shoved to the floor. He slid back under the covers, curving his arm around her to draw her snugly against him. Closing his eyes for sleep he touched her hair with a soft kiss. No need to rush. Plenty of days and years ahead for everything they wanted.

**Next morning**

The aroma of fresh coffee and the lack of the background vibration of the Daedelus's engines confused him at first. Then he opened his eyes. Finding himself in the main bedroom of Jack's cabin confused him for another few moments until he focused on his left hand curled by his head on the pillow. The plain white gold wedding band on his ring finger brought the previous 24 hours back in a flood of images. Smiling in contentment Daniel yawned, stretched and turned. The other side of the bed was empty and cool. She had been gone awhile.

He swung out of bed, located his duffle bag on the floor beside the dresser, pulled on track pants and t-shirt and went in search of his missing wife.

He found her in the kitchen, her back to him, tending a pan of eggs. He sidled up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and pressed his mouth to the nape of her neck.

"Morning," he murmured, breathing in her scent and softness, "kinda thought we'd be spending the morning in bed."

She shrugged away from him slightly. "Sorry, woke up with a headache."

He chuckled, closing the space between them to press light kisses down the back of her neck. "Given the amount of champagne you drank yesterday I'm not surprised," his hands moved from her waist up to brush lightly over her breasts, as he nipped lightly at her earlobe. "was surprised though at how quickly it got you drunk. I'll have to remember that." he teased, moving his mouth over the spot behind her ear.

"Why? So you can take advantage again?" she asked tightly, scraping at the pan of eggs she was scrambling.

Daniel stopped nuzzling at her neck, his hands dropped away from her body. He'd ignored her flinching when he'd first put his arms around her. It was nothing new for her to stiffen up when he kissed the nape of her neck. The tone in her voice and the tension he could feel thrumming through her though he couldn't ignore. He took a step back from her. This was obviously something more than him putting his lips to the scar on the back of her neck. The door from the deck slid open before he could make a response.

"Yo Vala! That pot of coffee ready yet?"

"Yes Cameron and so are these eggs."

She snapped off the burner and moved away from Daniel's reach without glancing at him, to dump the eggs into a bowl. He stared at her, trying to grasp how they could be starting their first day of being officially married at odds with each other when he had just gotten up.

"Hey morning Jackson," Cam greeted cheerily as he strolled into the kitchen.

Daniel pulled his gaze away from Vala leaving the kitchen with the bowl of eggs, to meet Cam's pale blue eyes. He acknowledged the Colonel's greeting with a nod.

"Morning Mitchell."

Cam swung a quick glance between the archeologist and the departing raven-haired figure as he retrieved the carafe from the coffeemaker.

"Everything okay?" he asked casually, peering into the 'fridge to locate a carton of coffee cream.

"Uhh…yeah," Daniel replied, letting his gaze return to where Vala had disappeared from the kitchen, "why wouldn't it be?"

"No reason," Cam shrugged, focusing his attention on opening the carton, "we were all just kinda surprised Vala was up before you."

Daniel crossed the room to take a mug from the cupboard.

"Said she woke up with a headache," he shrugged, "she doesn't seem to handle champagne too well."

Behind him Cam chuckled. "No kidding."

Lifting his shoulder in a faint shrug, he made his way out to the deck with Cam following..

"She knows I don't sleep well on board ship, so she let me sleep longer. No big deal."

Daniel slid open the screen door and stepped onto the deck. Another spectacular late April morning saturated his senses. No matter that there seemed to something brewing between them, at that moment Daniel was content to bask in his surroundings. He took in a deep breath of fresh morning air as he slid into the last chair at the table.

He looked around at his friends with a bright smile. "Morning guys."

His greeting was returned by everyone except Vala, who was studiously intent on liberally adding salt, pepper and ketchup to her scrambled eggs. Filling his own plate with the eggs, sausages and toast, he cast a quick glance at her. Definitely something going on. How long it was going to take to pry it out of her remained to be seen.

"So kids," Jack began awhile later after all the food had been eaten, "now that we're all sufficiently fed we should clean this," he gestured with his mug at the array of empty dishes on the table, "mess up and be on our way."

He shot a grin in Daniel and Vala's direction. "I'm sure our newlyweds are more than ready for us to get lost."

"Why Jack," Vala responded with a huge grin, "why ever would you think that?"

He smirked back at her, "Oh just a hunch there Vala, figured you two weren't sittin' side by side so you'd be forced to keep your hands off each other.

Daniel sat back in his chair, casting fleeting glances at the others. With the exception of Cassie who seemed as amused by the conversation as Jack, no one else was being fooled by the innuendo-laden nature of Vala's remarks.

"But that's just our hands Jack." Vala said silkily.

With a hard sigh, Daniel got up, pushed in his chair, picked up his dishes and headed to the kitchen.

"I'm starting the dishes," he said over his shoulder.

Daniel stared at the growing mound of bubbles. He hardly noticed Sam place a stack of plates beside him.

"So what's up?" she asked quietly.

He glanced over at her.

"That obvious huh?"

She shrugged, stooping to retrieve a dish towel from inside the cabinet.

"Well, until you made such an abrupt departure it was only obvious to Cam and Teal'c and I…Jack and Cassie just don't know her as well. So any idea what's going on?"

He shut off the tap and began depositing dishes into the sudsy water before he said anything.

"Nope," he threw a glance at her, "you know how good I am at reading her."

The entrance of the others with the remaining dishes ended that conversation until goodbyes were being exchanged.

"So here's the keys to lock up," Jack dropped them into Daniel's hand," when you leave make sure all the garbage goes in the animal-proof bins at the end of the county road. Don't forget to turn the electricity off at the breaker and make sure all the windows and doors are locked from the inside and…"

"Jack," Sam interrupted in exasperation, nudging him towards the truck, "give 'em a break…he's done this before, so can we just go."

"All right, all right…we're goin' we're goin'" Jack muttered, heading to the truck with the last suitcases.

Shaking her head, Sam wrapped her arms around Daniel, repeating the quick hug and kiss she'd given Vala.

"You read her better than you think you do," she said quietly near his ear.

She stepped back, patting his cheek. "You'll work this out."

Grimacing with skepticism, he watched her walk off the porch, cross the gravel lane and swing up into the cab of Jack's truck. He raised his hand in farewell

Behind him, Vala also lifted her hand to wave goodbye as the truck pulled away from the cabin.

She turned to open the screen door.

"Vala."

She stopped. She knew that patient, not-putting-up-with-any-nonsense from her, tone so well. She also knew, even before she turned to look at him what she'd see when she did. He'd be leaning back against the porch railing, his legs braced wide, his arms folded across his chest, his mouth set in a tight line and he'd be regarding her, his blue eyes intent and expectant behind his glasses. She also knew what he'd be expecting from her. Truth. It was what he always expected from her. She was a skilled liar. She could scam her way around most people. Except Daniel. Almost from the first time he had focused those clear blue eyes on her, she had to struggle to con him. Sometimes it felt like he could see all the way into her soul and refused to accept anything but her truth. Time spent together had only made it worse. Now he knew all her nervous little habits, and if he thought she was trying to lie or evade, the blue eyes would just become more and more focused. Like now, when it felt like they were drilling into her back. She exhaled. Sometimes the best defense was a good offense.

She rounded on him

"You took advantage Daniel! I was in a vulnerable state and you took advantage of it. I've always trusted you to not do that. Always thought I could count on you to not be the cave-man."

Vala mentally crossed her fingers that she had taken him so much by surprise that he was too stunned to realize she was contradicting herself. She was the one who had been wanting him to give into those base instincts more often. She reached for the door handle, glaring at him as she pulled the screen open.

"Apparently I was wrong."

She let the screen door bang shut behind her.

Striding through the living room area to the kitchen she allowed herself a tiny sigh of relief. Judging by the 'fish-out-of-water gape on his face, her full frontal attack had worked. She had rendered Daniel Jackson, 'linguist extraordinaire', speechless. Not that she hadn't in the past, but those times it had been to get him riled so she knew she had his undivided attention and to see the flash of heat in those crystal blue eyes. This time her purpose was to put him on the defensive so he wouldn't find what it was about the previous night that had her on edge. She figured she had only a few moments before he came into the kitchen intent on pursuing the conversation. Pulling open the 'fridge door she grabbed a bottle of water and twisted it open. If she was going to have any hope of deflecting him she had to be holding something so she wouldn't be giving herself away by fidgeting with her hands.

The screen door banged closed and his light baritone voice came from behind her.

"Cave man Vala?" he said tightly in disbelief.

She froze, the bottle at her mouth, waiting for the rest of the explosion. It never happened.

"Nope, "he expelled a hard sigh, "Know what? I'm done. I'm going for a walk."

She almost choked on her water. He was done? Done what?

She swung around to see him walking towards the door.

"Daniel?" she managed in confusion.

He stopped at the door, turning back to her.

"Look Vala, you're obviously pissed at me about last night. I don't really know why, but I do know I'm not playing this game anymore. We've known each other for 4 years, we've been living together for almost a year and we got married yesterday. By this time you should be trusting me and telling me straight out what the problem is instead of blowing smoke screens at me until I pry it out of you. When you ready to just talk to me, let me know and I promise you'll have my undivided attention."

Vala watched the screen door close behind him, leaving her in stunned silence. A tiny uncertain smile passed over her mouth and then was replaced by a frown. That was it? Her analyze-everything-until-he-understood-it Daniel was letting her off the hook? He wasn't going to push until he got to her truth? All she had to do was keep from leaving herself open like she had the night before and this topic would fade into the background. She squinted at the door he'd just left through This change in attitude was unsettling. It made her wary that this respite from having to dredge up her past was only temporary.

The wariness began to ease when he returned almost an hour later, promptly steered her into the shower without making any mention of the earlier conversation and proceeded to make love to her there.

**3 days later**

Rain streamed down the glass. Vala let the curtain fall back into place with a sigh.

"Bored?" asked Daniel blandly from the other side of the room.

"Yes," she replied, turning away from the window to look at him.

"Guess you shoulda listened when the others tried to warn you about spending a week here in April huh?"

"Oh not another, 'I told you so' , please."

"Don't need to," he waved an absentminded hand in the direction of the outside, "that pretty much says it all."

She breathed out an 'hhmpf', falling into silence as she wandered around the room.

"What happened to that book you were reading yesterday?" he asked after a few minutes

She sighed. "Lost interest."

"Oh? Why?"

Vala turned back in his direction. He hadn't moved from his position sprawled on the couch, his long legs extended onto the coffee table in front of him. She also suspected he hadn't even looked up from the piece of newspaper in his hands. She paused for a few moments, drinking him in. From the strangely erotic vulnerability of his bare feet up the lean length of blue-jean clad legs to the soft faded denim shirt that covered a slim, well toned torso and broad shoulders, the cuffs of which were folded back from his wrists revealing sleek, sculpted forearms faintly dusted with fine dark gold hair, to the familiar crease of thought between his eyes as he marked on the paper. She never tired of looking at him. She smirked. Actually she never tired of doing a lot of things with him. She strolled over to the couch, lowering herself to curl in beside him.

"Because my hero is much sexier than the ones in the books," she purred, tracing the outside edge of his ear with a fingertip.

He barely flicked a glance at her. "I'm not 20 anymore Vala, I need downtime"

"Fine." she sighed, dropping her hands to drape over his shoulder.

She propped her chin against her fingers and watched what he was doing.

"I don't think I've ever seen you do a crossword puzzle before," she observed.

"Nope, don't normally," he said, his eyes never leaving the chunk of paper in his hands, "I rarely find one that challenges me. Occasionally the ones from the New York Times…like this one is, "he touched the paper he was printing on, "do, but this," he paused for a split second while he finished printing a word in the puzzle, "is not one of them."

"Then why are you doing it?"

Daniel shrugged. "It's here and it'll make Jack nuts that I finished it in pen."

Vala snorted a laugh as she watched him unerringly fill in the boxes of the puzzle.

"You're bored too aren't you?" she asked after a moment.

He shrugged. "A little."

"Well," she murmured, drawing light fingertips down the sensuous curve of his neck, "you know…"

His eyes flickered sideways to her. "What'd I say about downtime?"

"Yes I know, but I'm sure I could help you with that," she suggested silkily, sliding her fingers down across his shoulder to the buttons of his shirt.

The sky blue eyes swung sideways to her again. "Of that I have no doubt, but no."

"You know Daniel," she pouted slightly, "sometimes you are no fun."

"Odd," he said blandly, without glancing at her, "that didn't seem to be the way you felt in the kitchen earlier."

"Mmmm," Vala hummed dreamily, mentally replaying the lunchtime tryst started by them sharing the last, slightly stale piece of chocolate cake from the wedding.

"So what then?" she asked laying her head against his shoulder after a moment.

"No idea," he replied, filling in the last squares of the puzzle, "I'm wasn't the one who planned for us to spend our honeymoon in a cabin in the wilds of Minnesota amidst the bugs and the rain."

She moved away from him with a huff to sit straight on the couch, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I really had no idea what else to do. The others all agreed that spending time lying in the sun at a sumptuous resort wouldn't be your thing."

"That would be true, but…"

Vala looked over at him when he didn't finish his thought. He was staring off into space, tapping the pen thoughtfully against his bottom lip.

She turned to face him. "But?"

Daniel looked directly at her with a blossoming smile. "I've got an idea but we'll have to go home."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Daniel Jackson you better not be thinking of going home so you can go back to work."

His eyebrows went up. "Don't see why not. There's not much we can do here and all the stuff I brought back from Atlantis needs cataloguing and translating."

She leaned towards him, fixing him with cool grey eyes.

"Try it and you'll be sleeping on the couch."

He smirked, the dimple in his cheek fluttering. "Uhhunh and how long would you be able to stand that?'

"Good point" she murmured with a like smirk, moving forward to catch his mouth with hers.

She leaned onto him as his arms came around her and he shifted them down to stretch out on the couch. She couldn't argue with him. After being apart for three months she definitely didn't want them sleeping apart for any reason. She also didn't want him cutting the week short to go back to work. She pulled out of the kiss a few moments later, eyeing him with an earnest gaze.

"Seriously?"

He smiled softly. "Seriously, I was kidding. I have something else in mind but we do need to go home to arrange for more time off and book flights and stuff."

She grinned happily "Oohhh, where are we going?"

Daniel tilted his head to one side, gazing at her with deep pleasure.

"I was thinking you might like to see some more of the planet."


	14. May 2009

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:**

Wow, got a lot to say here. First: sorry this has taken so long. It's been a bit of a struggle. AND once again there will be two parts to cover this period of time...hope to have the second part posted by the end of the weekend.

Next: I done this chapter a little differently. I wanted to do something for a honeymoon, BUT I didn't want to get into several entire chapters about each location...so what I've done is a series of journal entries FROM VALA!...yeah I know not her thing BUT Daniel batted those eyes at her and she couldn't say no,lol...anyway I was also noticing that I haven't done a lot from her POV so I thought I'd do so for this chapter. So the italics are her journal entry, followed by a short scene from that location. I hope it works.

The places mentioned in each location are real.

In the version I had saved in Word I had small pictures for each location...unfortunately FF won't accept them.

Oh and there is a some 'adult' content here, so reader discretion is advised.

And this is unbetaed, so any incorrect grammar etc, is entirely my fault.

* * *

**May 2009**

**Paris, France**

_I can't believe I'm doing this. Just goes to show how bored I really am, that I'm actually doing this journal thing. Or maybe it's just proof of how pathetic I am that I can't say no when Daniel bats those big blue eyes at me. My doing this is, of course, his idea. Said he was interested in my impressions and thoughts as a complete newcomer to this planet about places that I visit for the first time. I suspect that it might also be to get himself a few uninterrupted minutes to write in his own journal, as that's exactly what he's doing right now, propped up on the bed across the room from me…looking just as delectable as usual, but okay fair enough, I'll give him this time…I just better get to read his journal if he gets to read mine(I'm not kidding Daniel.)._

_I'm also feeling a little freaked out by trying to do this in English handwriting too…I still haven't mastered it yet, but I suppose as it's only Daniel reading this it doesn't matter, he can translate a lot of stuff that looks like scribbles into something readable…like his own handwriting._

_Anyhow, we're in Paris. Daniel says it's considered to be the most romantic city on the planet. Personally after being here three days I'm not convinced. That maybe unfair though since it's been raining off and on since we got here and apparently it's not normally like this. Some sort of unusual weather system that arrived around the same time we did. Wonder if we brought it with us from Minnesota because this is pretty much what it was doing when we left the cabin. After the three glorious hot days we had around the wedding, it started to rain and the bugs, that apparently hatched in the hot weather, arrived in clouds. Guess I shoulda listened when everyone else called me wonko for wanting to spend our honeymoon at the cabin(and no Daniel, I still don't want to hear "I told you so" from you!)._

_Biggest difference between being here and being at the cabin? There are no huge killer moskeetos here. Okay, that's not really true. This is a big city and as Daniel said there's a lot of fascinating things to do. It's just that the rain keeps interfering. We were going to take a walk along the Champs thingy(have no idea how to spell the rest of it, and even less idea how to pronounce it – fortunately I don't have to, French flows off Daniel's tongue like honey, which isn't surprising since Daniel's tongue is pretty honeyed generally; after all he talked me into doing this journal thing)(yes darling, I can see the reproving look you're giving me as you read this.)tonight, but it started raining again as we were walking back to the hotel from the restaurant we had dinner at…so here we are back in our hotel room, wet and bored(at least I am)._

_Still we have managed to do some things despite the rain. It stopped long enough yesterday for us to go up to the top of the Eyeful Tower. The view from there was amazing but I'm not sure what to say about a country that has the biggest phallic symbol I've even seen at the heart of their capital city(don't make that face at me Daniel, you know it's true.) And today we went to the big art museum – the Loovra(hmm…I don't think that's spelled right). A lot of beautiful, priceless works of art there along with a truly fascinating security system. Although Daniel didn't appreciate me trying to figure out how to disarm it. (really Daniel I'm offended that you'd think that I would try to steal any of those paintings. I don't do that anymore…besides they are too well known, I'd never be able to sell them…at least not on Earth)_

_Oh and last night we went to a world famous nightclub called The Crazy-Horse Saloon. I was shocked to say the least that Daniel was willingly taking me to a nightclub. I was even more shocked when we got there and discovered that my mostly strait-laced archeologist husband had brought me to a very high class strip club. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. The theatre and the music and the costumes(what there was of them) were stunning. And the performers were outstanding singers and dancers….but __Daniel? __at a strip-club? I can just see the look on Jack's face when I tell him( and you know I will Daniel) The other thing I enjoyed about last night was getting to wear this stunning short, black ceequinned(?)dress that I bought on our first day here._

_Which brings me to the absolute highlight of this city for me. The shopping. Oh the shopping! I spent our first afternoon trying poor Daniel's patience(sorry darling, but I think that black dress I wore last night was worth it wasn't it? I thought you liked it…at least judging by how quickly you took it off me last night.)by dragging him through all the designers shops acting as my translator. It did occur to me by the end of the day that I might have gotten carried away, but without protesting about costs or over-indulgence my sweet Daniel just arranged for everything to be shipped back to Colorado. What I didn't have room for in my luggage should be waiting for us when we get home. I did have to promise him though that I wasn't going to keep doing this all through Europe. _

_And I've had to promise myself to make sure that everything is still going to fit by the time we get home….I'm indulging in the amazing food and wine here a bit too readily. _

Vala put her pen down and sat back in the chair. Her gaze, as always, was immediately drawn to Daniel. Comfortably ensconced on the bed, wrapped in a dark blue hotel-supplied terry bathrobe, leisurely writing in the journal he had balanced against his bent knees, he was like a siren song to her. The ever-present desire to touch him made her fingers tingle. She smirked. It wasn't just her fingers he made tingle. Just being near him made her body hum. It had been that way from the beginning. The fierce and overwhelming need that washed over her the first time their eyes met had unnerved her. The entire tussle on the Prometheus had been a defense against the effect he had on her so she wouldn't lose control of the ship. That effect was what brought her to Earth looking for him; lust she had called it at the time. It was only after she had watched helplessly as he sacrificed himself for the greater good and been taken by Adria that she finally understood that she was in love with him and probably had been from the start. It just didn't occur to her at the time to equate the hearts-and-flowers sentiment of love with the ferocious needs he churned up in her. A lot of people, including Daniel, assumed her blatant come-ons to him were to flaunt how easily she could get the usually calm and logical archeologist, hot and bothered. In truth her actions had more to do with her needing and wanting his attention. Even if it was just to have his clear-blue eyes glaring at her. Unlike now, when his eyes were usually filled with warmth and affection for her. Or with the heated glitter that made her pulse race. Like it had been all evening. All through dinner, which she had realized in surprise was one of the only two or three times they'd had a leisurely, romantic dinner out, she had been vividly aware of him. Every smile that flickered over his mouth made her want the taste and feel of his mouth on hers. The lingering glances he kept sending her felt like caresses. The velvet tone of intimacy in his voice that belonged in their bedroom. His hands. Always his hands. She couldn't ever seem to look at his hands without feeling the slim work-roughened fingers sliding across her skin, touching, stroking, arousing.

With slow, deliberate movements Vala, closed the book and got up from the chair. She had written enough tonight and so had he. She strolled over to the bed, stopped beside it and dropped her robe to the floor.

The crystal blue eyes lifted from the page he was writing on to regard her over the top of his glasses.

"Subtle." he said dryly.

"Aren't I usually?" she smirked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

He laughed. "Oh yeah, I always have trouble knowing whether or not you want sex."

She chuckled at his sarcasm, sliding her hand under his robe up along the lightly furred lean muscle of his thigh.

'How 'bout now," she purred, tracing a fingertip around the outside edge of the nest of crisp curls between his legs, "still having trouble?"

"Mmmm," he murmured from the back of his throat, shifting his legs slightly to give her easier access, " you're gonna have to try harder I think."

She smiled seductively, stroking her fingers over the warm flesh in her hand. "With 'harder' being the operative word?"

He surged to life in her grasp, thickening, stiffening. Pleasure skittered down her spine. She wondered if anyone else understood just how much words turned him on.

He shifted forward as he grew turgid in her stroking hand, drawing her to him with one hand curved around her neck while he moved his book and pen to the far side of the bed.

"Minx," he whispered, catching her mouth with his.

Slowly she pulled out of the kiss a few moments later, letting her teeth tug lightly at his bottom lip as she moved. She smirked at the tip of his tongue darting out to lick his lips.

"Still having trouble?" she crooned.

His eyes opened, glittering blue heat at her.  
"No, no…"his legs shifted down to the bed surface, the edges of his robe separating to expose her hand stroking him, to both their gazes.

After a moment he lifted his eyes, now almost sapphire, to meet hers.

"…I think I've got it now," he breathed huskily, drawing her mouth back to his with one hand while he undid the tie of his robe with the other.

Vala let herself sink into the heated sweetness of his mouth. She leaned into him, the velvet slide of his tongue around hers sending sparks down her spine. With her free hand she pushed his robe fully open, uncovering his entire body to her. She drifted away from his mouth to graze kisses along the line of his jaw and down the sensuous sweep of his throat, pausing to suck deeply at the pulse in his neck. He exhaled a heavy murmur through his nose, one hand tightening in her hair as he brushed the palm of the other repeatedly over her breast, turning the satin tip into a rigid peak. She stopped completely, distracted by the ache in her breasts flashing down to the ache coiling between her legs.

Slowly she lowered her head again, nipping a trail over his collarbone and down his chest. The solid flat-plane of muscle twitched under her mouth. She stopped again, sucked the small brown nub of his nipple into her mouth and flicked her tongue against it. A hard "God" shot out of his mouth as he jerked and went rigid in her grasp. Suddenly both his hands were hot and heavy on her breasts, rubbing, squeezing, rolling her nipples between his fingers. She paused, forcing herself to focus past the jolts of heat the drag of his work-rough fingers over her sensitized nipples were sending to the need coalescing in her groin. Pulling in a small breath, she pressed her mouth to his skin, ghosting tongue and lips over the smooth tautness of his belly, swirling the tip of her tongue around the indentation of his navel before descending the narrow strip of dark-gold furring to the cluster of crisp curls between his legs. She touched the tip of her tongue to him. His breath stuttered, then quickened. Slowly she covered the head with her mouth, rolling her tongue over and around the hot satiny skin. His entire being tightened. Gradually she took him all in, replacing her hand on his shaft with her mouth. For several minutes she lavished him with her mouth; licking along the hard length, sucking the tip against the roof of her mouth to rub her tongue across it. He breathed out small ragged moans. She knew from his hand tangled in her hair subtly telegraphing what he wanted and the hand fisted in the fabric of his robe just how much farther she could push him. Before she took him over the edge. Before he let go and trusted her with control when he was at his most vulnerable.

Like she couldn't

Vala stopped all movement, let him go and sat up. She stared at him as his eyelids flickered open. He blinked at her, his eyes hazy and almost black with arousal.

"You…you're," he stammered in raspy voice, "…stopping?"

Shaking her head she got up from the bed and retrieved her robe from the floor. She wrapped herself in it as she paced away from the bed.

"Vala?' his voice was puzzled and still slightly out of focus.

She barely heard him. The ache of desire in her gut had become an ache of sorrow that she was, once again, not measuring up.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Uhhh, for what?," he asked in disbelief, "Believe me sweetheart, nothin' you were doing needs an apology."

She stopped in the middle of the floor, staring at nothing in particular, twisting at her rings.

"You've never ever stopped me from finishing," she waved vaguely in the direction of the bed," that."

He huffed a wry laugh, "Uhh yeah…little selfish I guess huh?"

She gave her head an absent-minded shake, lost in thought, barely hearing him.

"I can't do that!" she suddenly blurted, beginning to pace the room, "I spent so long watching helplessly while," she stopped, the material of her robe balling up in her clenched fists, "Qetesh…"

Images of the torture and the abuse and the murder her hands had been used to commit flashed through her brain. She stopped talking, expelling a jagged sob.

An instant later his arms closed around her and he was murmuring soothing, pointless words in her ear. She sagged into his strength, the weight of her past suddenly engulfing her. She wept. Hot, bitter tears for all she had been forced to endure. For all those she had been forced to abuse. Forced to victimize.

"I'm sorry," she choked many minutes later when she could talk again, "I'm finally back in control of _me_ and I can't…," she took a shaky breath, "…_she_ controlled everything that happened to my body…_I_ can't let go of that control again."

"And then I took away it from you…"

She nodded.

He sighed. "I see why you were angry with me…but why didja let the whole thing drop?"

She exhaled a shaky laugh. "Because you did…it was easier that way. I figured if you felt guilty enough that you'd taken advantage of me in a vulnerable state I was pretty sure the topic wouldn't come up again."

"Which I let you get away with by refusing to drag it out of you."

She nodded again.

"Ahh Vala," he breathed wearily into her hair.

"So why tonight?" he asked a moment later.

"You were so close…you weren't going to stop me…you never have…you've never hesitated to trust me with control of that moment…and I know that's the level of trust you want from me ….but I can't…I'm sorry…I know this isn't what you wanted from me but I need to be in control of my choices."

He sighed softly, turning her to face him, hooking his finger under her chin to tip her face up to his, "Vala, this has been everything I've wanted from you."

Her brow creased in puzzlement.

He brushed at the moisture still dampening her cheeks with his thumb. "In the last thirty minutes _you've_ interrupted sex to _initiate_ a _serious_ conversation. And y_ou've_," he touched her nose with a tender fingertip, "told me the truth without my having to drag it out of you, which is a lot more important to me than whether or not you want me performing oral sex on you.."

He smiled softly, "I want you to know one thing though,"

"And that is?"

He traced the tip of a finger along her bottom lip. "I enjoyed every moment of our wedding night and if you ever decide to make that choice all you have to do is ask."

Vala nodded, dropping her gaze to the tie of his robe.

"So, " he said after a moment of silence, "what's your choice right now, sleep or not."

Vala looked up, regarded him intently for a minute, then tightened the tie of his robe. She rose up on tiptoe, slung her arms around his neck and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"Sleep I think."

* * *

**Nice, France**

_Nice is Nice(yes Daniel, I know that's wrong but I haven't a clue where to put those accent thingies, so go ahead and correct it…as I'm sure you already have). Actually nice doesn't do this city justice. It's gorgeous. Warm and sunny. Unlike Paris. Took us almost a full day of driving away from Paris before we left the rain behind. We spent another two days after that meandering through the French countryside. It was an amazing drive(quite apart from discovering that Daniel can meander without a schedule), fields and fields of crops, so many wineries I lost count. We stayed at one our first night out of Paris. Daniel was, of course, enthralled because it was three hundred years old. Personally I was just thrilled with the food and their delicious wine. I have to seriously watch myself or all those lovely clothes I bought in Paris really won't fit by the time we get home. Although I'm sure the twice daily exercise I'm getting is burning off some of the calories(three times might help even more darling.) _

_Then we spent the next two nights at a couple of lovely family inns. More exquisite food and wine. And discovering that Daniel can charm the pants off people when he wants too. That's not actually a discovery…he charms the pants off me on a regular basis(oh stop looking at me like that Daniel, you know quite well how to use that slow, sweet smile to get your way; like that older lady in the bistro the other night, she was barely interested in serving us until you flashed that smile and started speaking to her in what I'm sure was flawless French, then she almost couldn't do enough for us.)_

_We've been here almost two days. We spent most of yesterday exploring the city. I was a little disappointed to discover that we just missed the Cannes Film Festival, which is apparently not far from here , but I think not having the crowds around is just fine for both of us because it means we have this wonderful beach mostly to ourselves_.

A shout from the water pulled her attention away from the journal slanted across her knees in time to see a Frisbee sail just over Daniel's head. For several beats of sheer shallow appreciation she watched him leap back and to the side out of the water, every muscle stretched and flexed into definition as he strained to grab the disc. It skimmed just above his fingertips, dropping into the water a few feet behind him at the same time he lost his balance. He plunged into the water with a heavy splash, disappearing below the surface for several seconds. Vala's heart shot into her throat. He reappeared a moment or two later, slicing through the water with crisp strokes of his arms to retrieve the piece of plastic bobbing in the water. She exhaled a soft sigh appreciation as he emerged from the water. Sunlight gleamed on the water sheeting off the curves of his shoulders and biceps and down the smooth flat-planes of his chest. Watching him wade through the waves to return the disc to its owner started Vala musing about pre-dinner activities. Who, he was returning the Frisbee to suddenly penetrated her rendezvous-in-the-shower plans. She peered over the top of her white, over-sized sunglasses at two twenty-something females appropriately attired for a topless beach. There was a brief exchange of words while he handed the toy back, then there was a flash of Daniel's sweet, boyish smile, followed by shared laughter amongst the three, then Daniel settling into a relaxed conversational stance with his legs braced wide and his arms folded lightly over his chest. Slowly Vala removed her sunglasses, her eyes narrowing in suspicion that he was flirting. Laying her journal and pen aside, she got up and strolled into the water, her attention focused on her husband's interaction with the two girls and not on the water that reached almost to her waist by the time she stopped at Daniel's side. She slid an arm around his waist, his skin under her arm was cool and damp. Without pausing in the conversation he unfolded his arms and draped one around her shoulder, his hand automatically moving over her skin in small strokes. The conversation, in a language Vala had never heard before, petered out after another moment. The two girls said goodbye, Vala assumed, turned and waded back to the shore.

Vala tilted her head up towards him.

"Hey," he dropped a light kiss on her mouth, "you came into the water after all."

"Yes I did," she stepped back from him slightly, patting his chest, "they were flirting with you and I wanted to make sure they knew you were taken."

His brow creased into a faint frown. "They weren't flirting."

She grimaced in disbelief. "Daniel, if anyone should know what flirting looks like, I should. Trust me they were definitely flirting and unbelievably, you," she poked a finger into his chest, "were flirting back."

He pulled her finger off his skin, his frown deepening. "Vala, I wasn't flirting."

She huffed an incredulous laugh. "Oh, then you weren't actually fascinated by the bleached blond's huge booms?"

His expression went from a frown to puzzlement then suddenly creased into amused comprehension.

"Okay," he chuckled, "I'm not sure which euphemism you were going for there, but I'll rhyme off all the ones I know and you can tell me when I get to the one you were trying to use."

Vala stepped away from him completely, put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"You're mocking me."

He smirked, bringing up his hand to make a small space between his finger and thumb.

"_Un peu_", he chuckled.

Vala glared at him harder. "And now you're mocking me in a language I don't understand."

She turned and managed to flounce back towards the shore despite the drag of the water.

His arms suddenly locked around her waist, pulling her back against him before she got very far.

"Okay, yes I was teasing you." his voice was quiet near her ear, "A little…which is what '_un peu_' means by the way. Was I flirting with them? No, of course not…well not consciously anyway. They're students at the University of Amsterdam in Holland. When I caught their accent I couldn't resist exercising my very rusty Dutch. That's what we were laughing about…how bad my accent was and that my Dutch relatives would be disowning me permanently if they knew how bad it was. That's all. Were they flirting with me? I have no idea," he exhaled a wry chuckle, "I'm not exactly known for noticing that stuff to begin with am I?"

His earnest, non-apologetic tone in her ear was oddly reassuring. There was no reason to apologize since he hadn't been doing anything that he needed to apologize for

"Did I notice her?" there was a note of hesitation in his voice as if he couldn't decide whether or not to use the word Vala had used.

"Sure," his shoulders moved in a faint shrug, "in a genetically male way. It's sorta hard-wired in you know. But it was no more than that….it's my gorgeous wife flitting around in a hot-pink bikini that's got all my attention."

His voice had dropped into the intimate velvet timbre she usually only heard in their bedroom. It sent the usual shiver down her spine. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, now _you're_ flirting with _me_."

His own eyebrows went up. "And that's a problem?"

"Well no, but," she stopped, realizing this whole thing really was a tempest in a pot.

She had been his sole focus since their wedding day.

She gave him a weak smile. "This whole conversation is actually kinda silly isn't it?"

"Mmmm," he agreed, lifting her left hand so the diamond flashed in the sunlight, "given this and why we're here and that you're the one in the pink bikini who's driving me nuts."

Vala's mouth twitched into her trademark smirk. "Oh am I? Well we could go do something about that."

"In a while," he said softly, "I'm happy like this for the moment," he tilted his face up to the sun and closed his eyes with a slight sigh, "I'd forgotten how much I love the water."

Water. The word cracked the bubble of contentment being wrapped in his arms had surrounded her with. She jerked against him, realizing they were a fair distance from shore. She flailed her legs, trying to find solid ground under her feet. There was nothing. Panic rose up from her gut. She pushed away from him, desperate to get back to shore.

One of his arms tightened around her waist like a vice. "Vala! Stop!"

His other hand clamped down on her legs. "Whoa! Stop, stop!"  
Suddenly she was partially out of the water, cradled between his arms, being regarded with deeply concerned blue eyes.

"Okay, relax. You're fine, I'm right here."

She closed her eyes, drawing in a few shaky breaths, willing herself to focus only on his strong arms holding her. She opened her eyes again after a few moments, and gave him a tremulous smile.

He shook his head. "You don't know how to swim do you?"

She answered with a shake of her own head.

"I'm sorry Val," he said pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, "most people in this society learn how to swim when they're kids, I forget sometimes that you grew up in a different place."

She patted his chest. "It's fine Daniel. Really; but could I go back to shore now?"

"Yeah, sure," he said wading forward to a spot where she could stand on the bottom.

"You know I could teach you if you'd like," he offered, his hand wrapping around hers as she moved back towards the beach.

"Now?" she said with an uncertain sideways glance at him.

"Well no, not now," he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, " but while I was floating around out here by myself I was thinking it might be nice to put a pool in the backyard…so I could teach you if we did."

She waded onto the beach, stifling a heavy sigh of relief.

"If you'd like, " she shrugged, striding up to the lounges where they'd left their stuff, wrapping herself with one of the hotel towels, and blotting at her neck and face with one end.

She turned towards Daniel in time to see him rubbing himself dry with the other towel. The pre-dinner activities she'd been thinking about earlier, flickered through her mind's eye. Dropping her towel to the chairs, she sidled over and leaned against him.

"So what were you saying before about my bathing suit making you nuts?"

He stopped drying his hair, slung the towel around his neck and shook his head.

"You're incorrigible."

She grinned, latching her arms around his waist.

"I am," she rubbed herself against him, "and don't you dare try to convince me you don't love it."

He laughed. "I think I gave myself away a long time ago, but if you don't stop what you're doing I won't be able to leave this beach without embarrassing myself."

Her grin widened, but she stepped back from him slightly.

"So how 'bout we get a shower before dinner?"

His eyebrows went up in surprise.  
" 'A' shower? Mrs. Jackson, are you suggesting we shower together? Won't that be crowded?"

She smirked, slid her arms around his and leaned up to kiss him.

"Yes it will, but I'm sure we can find some way of fitting together," she murmured huskily.

* * *

**Tuscany, Italy**

_Stupid bird woke me at dawn. At least it didn't wake Daniel. Poor baby over indulged in wine last night. I almost had to pour him into bed. He's quite adorable when he drinks too much. My usually reserved 'don't do public displays of affection' husband can't keep his lovely hands off me. Which is quite convenient because it means that I don't have to keep my hands off him either. Although that does make it difficult in the long run to simply put him to bed despite my knowing that as much as he wants me he'll fall asleep before we've gotten very far._

_Just wish I could go back to sleep now. I've spent the last hour sitting here on the balcony watching the sun come up. This place; the fields, the trees and something about the light reminds me of home. I haven't felt so much at peace since I was a child. _

_Actually no, that's wrong. It's peaceful like this at home in Colorado, on Sunday afternoons. Even if Daniel and I are in different rooms, there's an air of calm, of safety that feels like my home before Mamma died. I miss her terribly sometimes. I wish she could've been at our wedding. I think she'd approve of Daniel…he's the good and decent man she wanted for me…I have a vague memory of her telling me I deserved better than Jacek. Someone reliable and trustworthy. _

_Daniel defines the word trustworthy. Even when I wasn't giving him any reason to trust me, he never let me down. Which was more than I ever deserved. Probably still more than I deserve. I am thankful for him every day. Thankful that he sees through me like almost no one else ever has, although it was rather annoying to begin with that I couldn't scam him. Still I'm glad for it. I wouldn't be here now if he hadn't believed that I could be better than a thief and con artist. Mamma would've approved strictly on that basis. The last thing she would've ever wanted for me was a life like Jacek's_.

Vala yawned. Sleep beckoned again. She closed the book around her pen and stood up. Leaving the journal on the white wrought iron table she went back into the high-ceilinged bedroom. The morning sun hadn't penetrated the room yet. Here the light was still gentle and diffused. She padded across the cool tile floor to the large wrought iron bed. She gazed at the beds' sole occupant. Sound asleep, he was sprawled full length on his back, his arms flung over his head, the top portion of the light sheet pushed down around his waist, the bottom half draped snugly around him from his hips down the length of his legs. She let her eyes travel over the curves and angles of his body. The only way the shape of his body could be more obvious would be if the sheet wasn't there at all. She let her gaze linger where the sheet was tented over his usual early morning state of arousal. His body was irresistible to her at most times, but first thing in the morning she found him particularly hard to resist. Except this morning. Sleep was finally calling her back to bed.

Shedding her pink satin polka dot tank-top and boxer shorts she eased in beside him. She stretched out full length on her side, curling her arm across his torso. He was warm and solid, his skin satiny smooth under her hand roving over his chest. She closed her eyes, listening to the steady, easy rhythm of his breathing. Inhaling softly, she filled herself with his familiar scent; a clean, simple mix, unadorned as usual by aftershave or even shaving cream at that moment, of military issue soap, basic shampoo and an underlying warm tang that was just him, She let out a long sigh of contentment, letting her hand wander continuously over his body, savouring the interplay between the curve of firm muscle, the hard angle of bone and taut smooth skin. He stirred under her touch, shifting onto his side facing her.

His eyelids flickered open. A soft smile spread across his mouth and into his eyes like sunshine on water.. Her heart expanded with joy She'd found the man whose face lit up at the sight of her. That it turned out to be Daniel still astounded her.

"Hey beautiful," he exhaled in a husky morning rasp.

She smiled back. "Hey yourself."

"W's the time?" he breathed.

"Too early to be awake, go back to sleep."

" Mmm 'k." he murmured, tugging her into his arms.

Vala nestled into his embrace, molding herself to his form, tangling her legs with his.

"I love you Daniel," she whispered pressing a soft kiss against his chest.

His arms tightened around her. and his mouth touched her hair.

"L've you too cara,"

Closing her eyes she slid back into sleep.


	15. May 2009 cont'd

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:**

So the continuation of the previous chapter.

Not much else to say. Once again places mentioned really exist...and spring is apparently the dusty season in Egypt. And I really wish FF would take the pics because I had this lovely picture of their mode of transportation in Egypt...ah well maybe 'alldaniel' will take my pics and then you can see it.

So onward.

Oh and once again the following has 'adult' material so reader discretion is advised.

* * *

**May 2009 cont'd**

_**Athens, Greece**_

_I CAN NOT believe these people named their city to honour Athena._

* * *

_**Crete**_

_I am exhausted. We've been on the move for the past 5 days, quite a change of pace from our leisurely drive through France and Italy…which I suspect is the reason our pace has become hectic….we spent too long roaming around the countryside. We have not quite two weeks left before we're due back in Colorado and our flight to Egypt is tomorrow._

_This is the first chance I've had to do this since before we arrived in Athens 5 days ago. Not that I really had anything to say about Athens other than utter disbelief that someone thought they should name their city in honour of Athena. Makes me wonder just what horror she threatened them with if they didn't. I was rather relieved that we weren't there for more than a day before catching the overnight ferry to Crete._

_Crete has been enchanting. And terrifying. Wonderful small towns and villages of houses made of some sort of pure white substance overlooking water that I swear is the same colour as Daniel's eyes. The white houses against the blue water is dazzling and headache inducing without sunglasses. What was terrifying were the small towns and villages perched on cliffs overlooking the same water. The only other place I recall being afraid of heights like this was on the planet Narak, where there were entire towns build on stilts and platforms above the water._

_Daniel has also been enchanting…quite aside from the fact that he's always physically enchanting. This whole trip I'm seeing a side of him that I've never seen before…I'm not sure that anyone else at the SGC has seen this side of him either. He's so utterly relaxed. He smiles and laughs…a lot, he teases, he flirts with me, and on this particular side excursion he's been like a little boy…vibrant and full of wonder. His eyes positively shone when we were touring the archeological sites he kept dragging me to. There hasn't been a lot of true happiness in his life, but seeing him like happy this is all the reason I need to put up with the old places he keeps taking me. He's also been even more talkative than usual, if that's possible…although that could be the result of drinking too much of the coffee they serve here…come to think of it, that may account for him being so energetic too. Which is why I'm exhausted. We seemed to have been on the move from the time we got up in the morning 'til we fell into bed. For 4 days. Still there were some fascinating places there. My favourite was the observation/telescope place where we could look far out into space. It made me kinda miss the SGC. This trip has been amazing but we've been away from home for almost a month and I miss being out amongst the stars. I think Daniel was feeling the same way. He was very quiet on the drive back to our inn and kept staring out into the night sky._

Daniel slid into the seat beside her at the same time three blasts from the ferry horn pierced the air.

"We're docking shortly. You ready?"

Nodding Vala tucked her pen and journal away in her backpack. When she looked up again, she found Daniel's eyes on her, intent and warm. His hand rose, caressing along her jaw, his lips came down to hers, tender and sweet. She leaned into his touch, her entire body fluttering with want. She almost whimpered when he pulled away, what she thought was, far too soon.

"Don't know about you, " he said, his fingers moving softly over her cheek, "but I'm beat. I vote we just lounge around the hotel for the day."

Surprise made her eyes widen.

"_You're_ going to pass up the opportunity to roam around old buildings?"

He shrugged, toying with the end curls of one of her pigtails.

"Like I said I'm tired. The idea of whiling away the day with you in our room or by the pool is very appealing."

A wide, happy smile spread across her face. "I agree."

He returned her smile, stood, shouldered both backpacks and held out his hand to her.

She jumped up, slid her hand into his and followed him out to the deck just as one long blast of the ferry horn signaled that it was docked.

* * *

_**Alexandria, Egypt**_

_This place feels familiar. I think Qetesh may have been here. I don't like it here._

Panic, terror clawed at her like a wild beast. She thrashed against restraints that seemed to get tighter the more she fought. Voices called to her. She struggled, desperate to find them, pulling with all her strength against the iron claws clamped around her wrists. A scream of abject fear tore from her throat. She collapsed against the restraints, sobbing for breath, her heart pounding in her ears. The voices quieted. Became one. She turned towards it. Solemn, intensely blue eyes met hers. She blinked.

"Daniel?" she croaked.

Relief flooded his eyes. "God Vala,…yeah…I'm right here."

She put a trembling hand to his cheek. He was warm and solid and real. Tears of relief spilled down her cheeks. She sagged against him, burying her face in her hands.

His arms wrapped around her.

"Shh…shhh….you're okay…you're okay," he crooned, easing them both back down to the bed's surface.

She curled into the shelter of his embrace, his presence and his scent calming her racing heart.

An urgent rapping at the door pulled him away from her to answer it. Vala watched him move through the dark room like a phantom. Fear that he might be a phantom, that her terror was reality, kept her gaze glued to him. There was a brief conversation in the oddly sibilant and guttural language he spoke as fluently as English, between him and whoever was at the door The door closed and he came back across the room.

"They were checking that you were okay." he said, sliding back into bed beside her.

He propped himself up on one hand, brushing her hair away from her face with the other.

"That was pretty bad…wanna talk about it?

Vala stared at him, her throat choked with gratitude for him. Her rock, her harbour, her safety. Blinking away a new flood of tears, she cleared her throat.

"Qetesh."

His hand stopped on her hair in mid-stroke. He nodded.

"Extraction again?"

She shook her head, dropping her gaze to her fingers toying with the draw-string of his pyjama pants.

"Oh," he paused, "do you still dream about that a lot?"

She shrugged. "Not as much I once did," she frowned, twisting the string around her fingers, "but this was wrong."

"As in?"

Her frown deepened. "As in, there were things, people in this dream that shouldn't have been there."

"Like?"

She let go of the string, raising her eyes to his, still frowning.  
"Ba'al."

Daniel's eyes widened. "Well you have said Qetesh had relations with him."

"Yes but he wasn't present that day. Not on my planet or on her ship. So I don't know why I'm seeing him in this dream."

An image of Ba'al's handsome angular face twisted into a self-satisfied smirk as her body spasmed with the pain of the symbiote coiling around her spine flashed through her brain. She gasped to breath past the remembered agony of that moment.

"Val?"

Daniel's deeply worried voice brought her out of the memory. She focused on him.

"I'm okay."

She gave him a shaky smile that disappeared almost instantly when another image passed over her mind's eye. She clutched at Daniel's arm, her brow creasing into complete bafflement.

"And Teal'c with Ba'al's gold tattoo on his forehead."

Daniel shook his head. "Vala, Teal'c was never Ba'al's first prime."

"I know that, but he was in this dream…I can see him quite clearly holding the vessel that Qetesh was in."

She shook her head, trying to clear the images in her brain.

"And that's not right either…Qetesh was never in a holding vessel, she came to me directly from her previous host."

Vala searched her husband's face as if he had the answers. "What am I seeing Daniel? None of this right."

He curved his arm around her shoulder, bringing her down in against his side.

"I don't know sweetheart," he said softly, smoothing his hand along her arm in long soothing strokes, "maybe being here is kicking up memories from Qetesh and your brain is mixing in stuff from Ba'al's extraction because it's still fairly recent.."

Vala closed her eyes, the steady beat of his heart under her ear, calming her, grounding her in the safety of his arms.

"I really don't like it here Daniel….can we continue on to Cairo tomorrow."

His voice came back a moment later, velvet and reassuring near her ear.

"Yeah. I was thinking the same thing actually. Now try to sleep okay?" his arms tightened around her, "I'm right here beside you."

* * *

**_Cairo, Egypt_**

_First impressions of Cairo….dust…everywhere….dust, dust and more dust. Oh and Daniel is home. I can't find a better way to describe him in this city. From the moment we stepped off the train(that was an experience in itself) from Alexandria day before yesterday there's been an ease in his demeanor that I haven't seen elsewhere. Certainly he's been at ease in the other countries we've been in because he knows the languages and can find his way around. But here in Cairo he's just…home. He knows exactly where he's going…if he does falter because something's different it only takes him a moment to get his bearings back. Nothing is fazing him. Yesterday I saw a pickup truck with four camels tucked into the cargo area on their haunches looking completely relaxed. The sight was quite bizarre. Daniel didn't even notice until I pointed it out, then his response was a very casual comment about it being a fast and efficient way to get them where they were needed. He knows exactly where to find what he's looking for…he doesn't have to ask questions or get directions…he just knows. We just finished roaming through a huge market -which was so much like the markets on other planets that I immediately felt at home too- and we were very quickly stocked up on enough sheet sets for our bed at home to last the rest of our lives, found lighter weight clothing to wear while we're here and a very stylish hat wide-brimmed hat for me to wear while we touring all the old places that I know he'll be taking me to soon. He said it was almost identical to the hats women were wearing when the first sites at Giza were being opened up. I love it. It's quite elegant._

_Right now he's involved in a long, exuberant conversation with some men that I'm sure are old friends. At least that's the impression I have from the way they all suddenly embraced him after he started talking to them._

A shot of wind sent a cloud of dust swirling up and around her. Vala pulled the ends of the scarf tying her hat on, across her face to the block the worst of the dust. Over the edge of the scarf she watched Daniel, a hastily applied make-shift burnoose on his head to shield his face from the blowing dust, weave his way through a crowd of people away from the group of men he'd been talking with, to where she sat on a stone wall.

She tilted a sardonic smile up at him as he stopped in front of her.

"Boys club over?"

He shrugged snagging a few dates from the bag beside her on the stone wall.

"It's a patriarchal society Vala, especially at this level…business transactions aren't conducted in the presence of women."

She raised an eyebrow. "Business transaction?"

"Uhh yeah. I've arranged for transportation for us to the various sites that'll be better than a tour bus…something a little more private…romantic even."

She couldn't help smiling at how pleased with himself he looked.

"Oh? Do tell?"

"Nope," he popped another date into his mouth, "it's a surprise, but right now we need to get this stuff back to the hotel, put our luggage in storage there and pack some things in our backpacks for the next 4 days like we did for Crete."

Vala put her pen and book into her backpack and jumped off the wall.

"We do get to have lunch in there somewhere don't we?"

Daniel snorted a laugh. "Oh of course, wouldn't want you fainting dead away from a lack of food."

In the cooling temperatures of late afternoon they emerged from the car Daniel had hired at the hotel. The city wharves were spread out before them.

Vala cast a nervous glance at him. "Daniel, why are we here?"

He tucked his wallet into his backpack, giving her a little grin as he held out his hand.

"You'll see."

She followed him across the narrow roadway and along the cement wharf, scanning with a wary eyes the array of boats; different sizes, different shapes, some with sails, some without. He stopped at a grouping of 4 or 5 of the boats with sails.

"These are 'feluccas' and I've hired one for our trip along the Nile."

She stared at what seemed to be rather flimsy vessels that were far too close to the water for her comfort. Barely hearing what he'd said, she raised disbelieving eyes to him.

"We've established that I can't swim Daniel."

He frowned. "I'm not asking you to swim in the river Vala. Almost no one swims in the Nile, the native crocodiles are too dangerous."

"Crocodiles!" she squeaked, "There are crocodiles in this water. What if I fall in?"

He shook his head. "Vala, you're not going to fall in."

"You're damn right I'm not because I'm not setting one foot in that little boat."

"It's really not that little Vala."

"Well it's certainly a lot smaller than the Crete ferry. I don't understand why you thought I'd be okay with this Daniel."

"Ummm, maybe because you were okay with the ferry to Crete."

"And as I just said it was a large boat and there wasn't much danger of falling in,"

He sighed. "You are not going to fall in."

She pulled her hand out his. "Don't patronize me Daniel. Things happen and those," she gestured towards the boats, "are almost level with the water, I could slip over the side very easily."

His lips thinned in exasperation. "I'm not being patronizing Vala. I'm serious, you're not going to fall in. Would I ever knowingly put you in danger?"

She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

He exhaled a small sheepish sigh, "Okay, 'outside of work' would I ever knowingly put you in danger?"

"No I suppose not," she huffed, "but that's not the point."

His arms folded across his chest. "Then what is?"

"You," she poked a finger to his chest, "should have asked me how I felt about this first."

"Fine," he gritted, pulling her finger away from his chest, "right, yes I should've…but we're here now so could you stop arguing and just get on the damn boat…you're making me look bad."

Vala stared at him, her mouth slightly agape in shock. Had she heard him right? She shut it after a moment with snap.

"Oh, well excuse me for embarrassing the great Dr. Jackson." she snarled, turning to stomp away.

His hand seized her arm, spinning her back to face him. His other hand closed around her jaw, holding her gaze directly in line with his and weirdly he began speaking to her in Goa'uld.

"Look, I've already said this is a highly patriarchal society. If I'm not perceived to be in control my wife's behaviour, then these guys, who I don't know, crewing for us won't feel compelled to respect any of my wishes or the verbal deal I made for this charter with Farouk and his brother, who are friends of mine. We could end up paying out in a myriad of different ways much more than my original deal with Farouk. And I'm not interested in us being taken being take to the cleaners like that…so please for the next four days try to be less….challenging than you usually are."

"But," she started.

He tapped a finger on her chin. "Ah, ah…no buts…that's the way it is here so just cool it."

She opened her mouth to say something when she felt his fingers on her jaw soften and move gently over her skin.

"I promise this'll be fine," he'd switched back to English and his voice dropped to the velvet intimacy of their bedroom, "once we're settled, this'll be better than traveling by road…it'll be cooler, there'll be less dust and aside from our crew we'll be alone. Okay?"

She hesitated.

"Trusting me?" he asked softly.

Vala blinked. The quiet earnest blue eyes always brought her home to the truth. He never let her down.

She let out a breath and nodded.

"Thank you." Daniel smiled, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Feeling more than a little anxious she let him lead her up the gangplank. He stepped into the boat, turned and held out his arms. Resting her arms on his shoulders, she leaned into his grasp on her waist as he eased her down to the deck. Her eyes flickered uncertainly to his at the unstable motion of the boat under her feet.

His hands tightened on her waist. "You're okay," he soothed, steering her to a bench seat along one gunwale of the boat. "You take a seat here and I'll get our sleeping arrangements settled."

The sun was starting to set when the boat came to a stop.

"We're going to anchor here for the night," Daniel said, dropping onto the bench beside her, "the actual landing isn't far, obviously since we can see the site from here," he gestured towards the clearly visible huge monuments rising up from the flat desert, "but back here the floodlights around the site won't disturb our sleep as much and we're close enough to get into the first morning tours before it gets too hot and crowded."

"Do we really need to do an organized tour? Surely you know this place well enough to show me everything."

"Probably, but yes I'm afraid we have to do an organized tour, first because the tours are a form of controlled access - for the sake of site preservation there can't be unauthorized people crawling over everything willy-nilly, ancient artifacts are very fragile and quickly destroyed if people don't know how to handle them and secondly because any authorization I had to be here on my own was rebuked a long time ago. The Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and I don't exactly see eye to eye."

She looked at him with alarm. "You're not going to get hassled for being here are you?"

He shook his head. "Doubt it…as long as we stay with the tour and I don't start spouting off about," he shot her a mischevious smirk, "alien landing sites, we should be fine. Besides I'm not aware of anyone I know doing any work here, although I might still know some of the labourers."

He fell silent then, stretching out his long legs, leaning back against the cushion and closing his eyes. For several moments Vala watched him bask in the fading sunlight. She never seen him this content, his expression was completely still and unmarked by worry or thought. She reached to gently brush her fingers along the tiny swirls of perspiration damp hair clinging to the nape of his neck. She'd also never seen his hair this length before. She slid her fingers deeper into his hair, the soft strands flowing through her hands, sunlight glinting off threads of dark-gold, red and the first hints of grey at his temples. Shifting closer, she let her fingers trail through the short strip of sideburn by his ear, down the elegant sweep of his throat to rest softly on his chest. Under her hand was the fine texture of the sand-coloured linen tunic he had changed into and the strong, steady beat of his heart.

"Happy?" she murmured.

The faint curve of contentment on his mouth deepened, making the dimple in his cheek flicker.

"Mmmhmm…I've been gone too long. It's good to be home."

His hand came up to cover hers, his eyes opened and he smiled.

"And I'm glad you're here with me."

Vala smiled back, her heart fluttering wildly. Sky-blue eyes blazed against tanned skin, a scruffy red-tinged beard and a four month growth of dark-gold hair. He bore a striking resemblance to the pirates in some of her favourite novels. Rough, unkempt and a little feral. The familiar heat of lust began to coil in her gut. His head tilted towards her as she leaned in to meet his mouth, warm and supple against hers. He drew away from her a moment later, gently stroking her cheek.

"Love you cara." he whispered.

Her forehead creased in thought. "Just what does that mean anyway?"

"Hmmm," he replied seemingly more interested in the texture of her skin than her question, "what does what mean?"

"Cara. You've used it three or four times in the last month."

His tan didn't quite conceal the tinge of pink that spread across his face. Vala bit back a giggle. She almost never made him blush anymore.

His gaze dropped from her face to his hand rubbing vaguely at the linen fabric of his trousers that matched his tunic.

He shrugged. "Umm…it's …uhhh, Spanish."

"And it means?"

He shot a glance up at her through his eyelashes and gave her a sheepish grimace.

"Umm…darling…it's the Spanish equivalent of 'darling'."

Vala stared at him a moment, then leaned against him, giggling. Which stopped abruptly at the feel of his hand cradling her cheek, bringing her gaze up to meet his.

"Cara mia….my darling." he breathed in a voice thick with emotion.

The soft, blatant adoration in his eyes made her own vision blur behind a veil of silver.

The shadow of the boat's captain falling over them to summon them to eat ended the moment.

Background illumination from the floodlights on the Giza Plain was enough to help Vala find her way from the tiny below-deck washroom to the sleeping space she and Daniel had been given on deck in the bow of the felucca. Pushing the privacy curtain aside she eased through the slightly darker space to the mattresses that were covered with a set of the sheets they had purchased earlier that day. She slid between the thick luxurious locally made sheets with a happy sigh. The constant motion of the boat had been disconcerting at first but over the short time it had taken to get from the Cairo wharf to their present location the movement had become soothing. She throughly expected the gentle rocking to lull her into a deep sleep. Shifting closer to the warm male form already in the bed she was surprised to realize he had nothing on. Not something he usually did when there were other people around. She'd barely registered that when his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her close.

"Umm Daniel?"

"Hmmm?"

The exhalation of his response on the sensitive spot behind her ear he was nuzzling at made her shiver.

"Uhh…we're not exactly alone here."

"Your point?"

His mouth moving a trail of soft, open kisses down her throat was distracting.

"Umm nothing really…" she shivered with the sensation of him sucking lightly at the pulse in her neck.

The coil of lust that had laid in her gut since the boat had anchored began to tighten.

"…except you're usually rather reticient about doing this with other people around."

She wound her arms around his neck stroking her hands through the soft mass of hair at the back of his head.

"Not reticient…just private, you know that," he replied softly, pushing up her tank top to expose her breasts to the caress of his mouth, "this is only between us."

"And right now?" she hissed slightly at his tongue laving across her nipples.

"Doesn't matter…anything we do is likely to get lost in the motion of the boat."

"We can be a little vocal sometimes," she observed, letting her fingertips caress lightly down the muscles of his back to cup her hands around his small tight rear.

Chuckling he pushed away from her to rest back on his haunches.

"I'm not the noisy one here sweetheart," he hooked his fingers into the sides of her boxers and pulled, "you are…"

She raised one leg at a time to help him remove the shorts, loving the glimpses in the faint light of him licking his lips as he caught quick flashes of soft, dark places between her legs.

He leaned forward, his hands closing around the hem of her tank top, "…I can be very quiet," he tugged upward urging her to sit up to pull the tank-top off completely,

Grinning seductively, Vala let her arms drop around his neck. She leaned into him, rubbing her breasts against his chest.

"Careful Daniel," she purred, "I might take that as a challenge to see how hard and how loudly I can make you come."

"Not tonight," he laughed, a rarely heard low, dirty sound that made the lust in her gut shoot into her groin.

With deliberate care he lifted her arms away from his neck, held them over her head, his fingers easily encircling her wrists.

Vala's throat went dry. He was, by nature, a gentle and giving lover. She forgot sometimes that he was taller, heavier and stronger. In this position she was almost at his mercy. The thought made her tense. She squirmed against his grip. His breath caught.

"So beautiful cara," he whispered with hoarse reverence, seemingly unable to drag his gaze away from the sway of her breasts.

He released one of her hands to fold his fingers around the full softness of her breast, dragging his thumb back and forth across its' quivering peak.

Sparks sizzled down Vala's body to the ache building between her legs.

"So beautiful," he repeated silkly, raising his eyes to hers.

The colour of his eyes was lost in the darkness around them and the fully dilated blackness of his pupils, but the ambient lumination made them glitter. It was like falling into the night sky.

"God, I love you," he murmured, his hand sliding away from her breast to graze down the length of her torso as he moved forward until his long, lean body was poised over her.

His hand rose again to cup her breast towards him. His gaze dropped away from hers to focus on the stiff nipple. Delicately he swiped his tongue across it. Vala arched into the sensation, unable to keep herself from groaning with want. Instantly his mouth was on hers, smothering the sound. She ploughed her hands into his hair, shifting her mouth slightly to suck hard at his bottom lip. His entire body shuddered and a heavy groan came from the back of his throat. She smirked against his mouth.

He broke out of the kiss, more than a little breathless.

"Vixen," he gasped.

"I am." she muttered seductively, leaning up to bite at the pulse along the side of his neck.

His breath came out in a strangled groan.

"God, I want you," he mumbled, one knee dropping between her legs, urging them to part.

"No kidding," she chuckled, lifting her legs to encircle his waist, "you were raring go when I got into bed."

"Oh you've no idea," he said, releasing her other hand so he could balance securely over her, "I've been thinking about this all evening."

"Time to stop thinking then Daniel." she crooned, tilting her hips up as he sank into her in one smooth thrust.

Slowly he began to move; long, lazy in and out strokes that teased the ache between her legs into a deep burn. Restlessly she stroked her hands over his body, savouring the bunch and flex of his muscles as he moved. She grazed her nails down the his spine and repeatedly over the tender skin of his backside. His breath quickened in pace with his strokes into her. He lowered his head to her chest, closed his mouth around a nipple and sucked hard at it, nipping it with his teeth. Vala arched against him, keening low in her throat. Again, his lips were instantly on hers, pulling the sound and her tongue into his mouth. She groaned again as he sucked at her tongue in rythym with the movement of his hips. Clutching at his shoulders, she pulled away from him.

"Harder, " she gasped, locking her legs under his ass to hold him against her."

His pelvis struck against hers like flint to tinder. Sparks ricocheted through her groin. The burning ache began to spiral out of control. She clung to him, meeting his movement with her own, seeking whatever would fill the need. His pace was frantic, untidy, his breath ragged and harsh near her ear. Suddenly he went completely still, then he plunged into her with one final hard thrust. Fire raced through her, exploding across her body and brain into white heat. Beyond the trembling of her own body she was dimly aware of him shuddering against her, of the spasm and jerk of his body spending deep inside her. She shifted her hips slightly, an secondary tremor of pleasure made her breath catch. Softly she let the breathe go as she tightened her arms around him, her hands gliding in idle strokes up and down his back. For several long minutes she let herself stay like that, drifting in contentment, relishing everything around her; the cooling night air that made the canopy over them and the privacy curtain flutter, the faint calls of water fowl, the gentle lap of the water against the boat and the slowing of Daniel's breath across her shoulder. Finally she forced herself to move.

She nudged his shoulder with a gentle hand. "Need to move darling…you're slipping."

She smiled to herself when all she felt was a nod of his head. She had learned fairly quickly that on top of sex making him sleepy like it did most men, it also tended to shut his brain down, it usually took a several minutes for him to regain the ability to make a full sentence.

After another moment or so he levered himself up far enough off her to drop a sleepy kiss on her mouth.

"'K…was fallin' asleep on ya…."

"Yes I know." Vala agreed with a soft laugh, lifting her arms off his shoulders and her legs away from his waist.

He slid off her to one side, reaching at the same time to gather her back into his arms.

She snuggled into his embrace, pressing soft kisses to his chest.

"Was that quiet enough for you?" she teased.

There was a drowsy sound of amusement and a vague negative movement of his head.

"Needs practice."

"Lots." she snickered.

She heard an another faint chuff of laughter and then nothing but low, steady breathing.

Closing her eyes, she slipped into sleep, lulled by the rock of the boat and the warm security of his arms.

* * *

_**Cairo International Airport**._

_Last entry before we're home. It'll be good to get back. This trip has been wonderful and probably the last extended vaction I'll get out of Daniel for awhile but I think we're both wanting to get back to work…especially Daniel(obviously). The last few days we've spent here in Egypt seems to have reignited his passion for digging in the dirt. I know I'm going to lose his attention once we get back to work. I can just imagine how much stuff will be piled on his desk when we go into the SGC next week. And for the most part that'll be okay, his passion for his work is big part of who he is. I'll just need to keep reminding him about the rest of his life._

"So when do I get to read it?"

Vala tilted her head back to Daniel leaning over her. Closing her book around the pen, she lurched up to him to plant a fast, smacking kiss on his mouth. She settled back in her chair with a grin and a wink.

"Well you know what they say Daniel, 'you show me yours and I'll show you mine."

He snorted a laugh just as an almost unintelligible voice on the PA announced their flight.

Shaking his head in amused exasperation he picked up her backpack and handed it to her.

"C'mon Mrs. Jackson, let's go home."


	16. June, Sept 2009

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

A/N: (sigh)...so FINALLY. I can't believe I spent almost a month working on this first scene. It's such a short transition scene to get them back to work and to set up future events...it shouldn't have taken a whole month. The second scene has been written since this past July. I just got distracted part way into the first scene by the events of SGA, "The Lost Tribe". For a week or so I seriously considered making alterations, BUT while those changes would've have been easy to make here at FF, making them on the story as it's posted 'alldaniel' would've taken time...so at the moment I've opted to continue without changing any past chapters, BUT there are references here and there will be in the future to Daniel's injury(ies?). So I guess that's gives us **SPOILERS for SGA S5, "The Lost Tribe".** If you haven't seen 'Lost Tribe' then I think what I've done is okay, because my references are pretty oblique.

I may still go back and make changes so if you see alerts come across your email of something you think you've already read, bear with me, I'm just making alterations to dialogue.

Hmm...what else did I want to say....oh yeah, the second scene takes place in September, therefore Daniel's had a birthday.

So: Daniel is 44. Vala is 38.

OH...yeah...one more thing...forewarning for those who like it and for those that don't....heavy J/S 'ship' here.

Enjoy

* * *

**Early June/2009**

"Look," Daniel followed Vala out of the elevator into the corridor, "I said last night that I'm fine with whatever you decide."

Vala scowled at him as they negotiated the familiar hallways to his office.

"You're '_just'_ fine with it either way? Are you really that ambivalent?"

"No, he sighed, "you know I'm not ambivalent. I've already made my feelings on the matter perfectly clear, but _you_ need to be sure it's really what you want…that you're not just trying to prove something to yourself."

The sudden wailing of the klaxons cut off anything else he was about to say.

"Unscheduled off world activation!" blasted out of the PA system

They both stopped in the middle of the hall. Daniel shot her a wry smirk

"Home sweet home."

She snorted a small laugh and nodded.

"Med team to the gateroom! Med team to the gateroom!"

Both smiles disappeared. Instinct and training kicked in. They turned and headed back to the elevator.

By the time they made it down to the gateroom control booth the iris was just sliding back into position and several people were still milling around at the bottom of the ramp in the gateroom. Their sudden appearance in the control booth got General Landry's immediate attention.

"Well!" he huffed, turning to eye them with a wide smile "welcome back you two, was wondering when you'd show up."

"Thank you General," Vala replied before Daniel could, "it's good to be back. We would have been here half an hour ago though, if Daniel hadn't delayed us."

"Hey," Daniel looked at her in disbelief, "I wasn't the one who forgot to set the alarm last night."

Vala smirked at him. "That wasn't what I was referring to darling," she finished with a wink at General Landry.

"No, but I was," Daniel shot back blandly, ignoring Walter Harriman's snicker and General Landry hiding a smirk behind his hand.

"So what's going on?" Daniel continued quickly before she had a chance to make another blatant reference to their private life.

He nodded down at the last of the personnel leaving the gateroom, "Why was a med team needed?"

"Simple recon to P4R 701 got a little hairy," Landry explained leading the way from the control room back to his office, "The Alliance didn't like us investigating rumours they were setting up a new kassa operation on '701 so they let their displeasure be known by engaging teams '1' and '3' in a little firefight as our people were heading back to the 'gate."

"Who was injured?" Vala asked as they arrived in the briefing room beside Landry's office.

Landry shrugged. "Ah well, it was a standard fire fight I understand, everyone picked up a few scratches, some bruises, a couple of wounds, Mitchell came back with a head injury…"

Daniel and Vala were gone from the room before he could finish the sentence.

He shook his head with a small smile. The teammates might have gone their separate ways, but the bond between them was permanent.

The infirmary was in full tending-to-the-wounded mode when they arrived. Almost every bed was in use by a member of SG-1 or SG-3. Daniel and Vala's appearance in the doorway was noticed immediately.

"Well, wouldja look at what the cat dragged in." came from the far end of the room where Teal'c was being bandaged by a nurse.

All eyes in the room rose to the new arrivals. There was an eruption of greetings and congratulations as they crossed the room to Teal'c's bed.

"Nice to see you too, Jack," Daniel retorted, pausing to exchange a hug and kiss with Sam before taking a seat on the empty bed beside Teal'c's.

"I'd like to say the same thing." Jack observed with narrowed eyes, "but geez Daniel I can barely see your face. When was the last time you shaved, or had a hair cut for that matter?"

Daniel threw an amused questioning glance at Vala, "Hmm, last time I shaved was…what?….Paris?"

She nodded, "I believe so, and I don't know Jack," she brushed her husband's heavily bearded cheek with the backs of her fingers, "I quite like it…makes him look rather like a pirate don't you think?"

Jack snorted. "Right, which is really the look that's encouraged on a military base."

"Ah, but I'm not military Jack."

"Daniel." the older man said with exasperation."

"Jack." he replied with smug smile.

The General's eyebrows went up in warning. "Daniel."

The archeologist suddenly grinned.

"Relax Jack," he patted his friend's knee "I was planning on paying Fred a visit this afternoon. Although," he smoothed a fingertip over his top lip and down around his chin, "I'm thinking about getting him to trim this down to a nice 'van dyke'.

He sent questioning glances at Sam and Teal'c. "Whatdaya think?"

"I believe that would be most suitable to your face DanielJackson."

"Thank you Teal'c." Daniel grinned, ignoring Jack's muttered, 'you're so not helpin' T.'

"Oh I agree. I think it'd be a great look for you Daniel," Sam chimed in, flicking twinkling eyes sideways at Jack.

He turned an expression of betrayal to her. "Et tu Carter?"

Laughter rippled around the group that now included the newest members of the flagship team. Daniel exchanged a small smile with Vala, tucking his hand into her's resting on her thigh. The month alone together in Europe had been idyllic and restorative, but it was good to be home. He cast an appraising eye over Teal'c's heavily bandaged bicep, the cuts on Captain Ferguson's face and the tensor bandage wrapped around David Bank's wrist.

"So judging from the less than life-threatening injuries you three are sporting and the fact that Dr. Lam isn't telling us off for being too noisy, I'm guessin' that Mitchell's injury isn't serious either?"

"You are correct Dr. Jackson. Thankfully," Carolyn Lam answered, emerging from behind the privacy curtain drawn around the bed on the other side of Teal'c's, "Now that we've got the bleeding stopped there's nothing else wrong with him except a concussion. He's going to have a nasty headache when he wakes up but he should be fine in a few days."

She directed a pointed look at Daniel. "An equally important question is how are you?"

He shifted, a bit uncomfortable under her trained scrutiny. "Uhh, I'm good actually."

Knowing Daniel's penchant for downplaying health concerns Dr. Lam swung her gaze to Vala. "Do you agree?'

Vala nodded. "Mmhmh, for the most part. I took the healing device with us but fortunately never had reason to use it. He was pretty tired when we got back to Athens from our little side-trip to Crete, but then so was I for that matter. I think we simply did too much while we were there."

The doctor frowned. "And what did I said about not overdoing."

"Yes I know, but," she shot a glance at Daniel, "you try getting him to listen when he's immersed in old things?"

Barely smothered sympathetic chuckles passed over the group. They all knew how well Daniel paid attention to his physical being when he was in archeologist mode.

Dr. Lam sighed. "Well at least you're home without any incidents," she slung the stethoscope that was in her hand around her neck as she turned to go, "but Dr. Jackson, I want to see you this afternoon for a complete check-up and I believe your prescriptions probably need refilling too."

Daniel opened his mouth. Vala jumped in to answer before he could say anything.

"He'll be there."

Carolyn Lam nodded. "Good, see you then."

Silence settled over the group while they watched the doctor make her way out of the room. Daniel brought his gaze back to his friends and found them all eyeing him with obvious concern.

Biting back a soft groan of exasperation, he dropped his head forward and gave it a slight shake.

"Guys," he shifted a deeply affectionate gaze to each one of the gathering individually, "enough okay. I'm fine. I was feeling fine when we left and I'm fine now…better even…I haven't felt this rested in years…so let's move on, say, to what's new around here?"

That got a response he didn't know what to make of. He shared a look of puzzlement with Vala at the sudden odd behaviour between Sam and Jack.

"Oh well you know Daniel," Sam hedged, her eyes sliding quickly to and then away from Jack's, "just the usual…this …and that." she finished lamely, seeming to have to force herself to not smile or look at Jack.

"Uh yeah Daniel," Jack cleared his throat, "you know…same ole', same ole'…Mitchell takin' his team into a firefight, Teal'c raisin' his eyebrow at Mitchell takin' the team into a firefight, Carter confoundin' everyone with techno-babble about some new doohickey, me pushin' papers in DC, me proposin' to Carter."

Daniel registered the last words at the same instant Vala did.

"Hey, hey!" he sprung off the bed wrapping Sam in a tight embrace just as his wife launched herself at Jack with a small shriek of joy, "that's great to hear."

Grinning widely at his best friends Daniel reclaimed his seat on the bed, "so when'd this happen?"

Sam cast a considering eye at Jack. "Umm…two weeks ago?"

The General nodded in agreement. "Yeah that sounds right."

Daniel couldn't wipe the grin off his face. "'Bout damn time…what finally prompted you Jack?"

The older man smirked, his eyes traveling from Daniel to Vala and then back.

"You actually, Daniel."

The archeologist's eyebrows rose. "I did? How? I wasn't even here."

"Didn't hafta be Danny-boy. Ya set an example. I realized that life with Carter'd be a piece-a-cake compared to what you've taken on."

Vala's indignant, "Hey!" accompanied the gust of laughter that swept over the group. The sudden rattle of the privacy curtain around the next bed over being shoved aside silenced them all.

"Damn, you people are noisy!" Cam groused in a foggy voice.  
"Cameron!" Vala exclaimed with relief, leaving her seat beside Daniel to greet her CO with a gentle hug.

"Whall, wouldja look at that," Cam drawled, "Sunshine and the missus are back. Nice to see ya." he finished with a weak smile at the light kiss Vala pressed to his cheek.

She straightened up and beamed at him. "Nice to see you too Cameron…glad to see you're not seriously injured."

"Yeah, 'cept for this serious headache."

"Nail in the forehead variety huh?" Daniel commiserated knowingly.

Cam turned his gaze vaguely in his friend's direction. "Uh, yeah."

The Colonel's eyes suddenly widened and then narrowed as he focused solely on Daniel.

"Whoa Jackson, when was the last time you shaved?"

Laughter spread through the group.

Cam squinted at them. "What?"

"Daniel and Jack have already had this conversation Cameron," Vala explained, "And Daniel's decided he's going to get Fred to trim his beard into a 'van'."

Gentle chuckles crackled around the gathering.

Vala looked at her friends slightly askance. "What?"

"I believe ValaMalDoran," Teal'c offered, "the term you required was 'van dyke', a 'van' is a type of motor vehicle."

Vala shrugged. Cam's snort of amusement cut her off before she could say anything else.

"A 'van dyke'? Who you kiddin' Jackson?" he shook his head, then grimaced at the action, "I've seen you shave before you've had coffee and sometimes without your glasses…you'd never be able to keep a 'van dyke' in shape."

Laughter spread around the gathering again. The crackle of the PA system cut through it.

"General O'Neill, your car is waiting topside. General O'Neill."

Jack got off Teal'c's bed with a sigh. "Well kids, that's my cue. I'm needed in Washington to push papers around."

He cast a look at Cam. "Take it easy Mitchell. Me and Sam'll host the hockey game next weekend, seein' as how you're not likely to be up to it."

Cam nodded. "Appreciate it sir, thank you."

Jack waved a dismissive hand. "Yup, no problem, but you're buyin' the pizza."

He glanced around at the rest of the group. "So who's walking me up to the surface? 'T'?

Teal'c bowed his head. "I think not O'Neill. I am in need of sleep. I will remain here, if you do not object."

Jack shook his head. "Nope, not'll. See ya next weekend."

Teal'c moved his head in another slight bow. "Indeed."

Jack turned and simply raised an eyebrow at Sam. Before she could make any response Vala had hooked her arm through Sam's.

"'Fraid not General, Sam and I have a wedding to discuss."

Sam smiled weakly at Jack in farewell as Vala tugged her out the infirmary door.

Jack threw a glance at Daniel as they watched the two women disappear into the corridor.

"Should we be afraid of those two together?"

A small smile passed over Daniel's mouth. "I usually am." he clapped a hand on Jack shoulder, "C'mon, I'll go topside with you. I've gotta a hunch I should see Fred now. I'll probably be spending most of the afternoon," he flung an arm around at their surroundings, "here."

* * *

**Sept. 2009**

"Jack, quit pacing. You're going to put a hole in my floor."

Major-General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill stopped in his tracks, lifting his gaze to meet his best friend's amused blue eyes.

"I've already done this once Daniel. Why am I doing it again."

Daniel shrugged. "Umm…maybe because you love her."

Jack's brow creased in thought. "Okay, yes, but that doesn't explain why she's doing this."

Daniel leaned back against his desk, folded his arms across his chest, looked at Jack thoughtfully for a moment, then smirked.

"I have no idea."

Jack grimaced at him. "Funny Daniel."

"Seriously Jack, I'm the last guy you should be asking to explain a woman's mind. I have enough problems coping with Vala's. I do know though that this is what both you and Sam have wanted for a long time…so just relax wouldja."

The door opened at that moment and Andrew Sutton stepped into the room.

"Anytime you're ready gentlemen."

The unexpected deer-in-the-headlights expression on Jack's face made Daniel laugh. He took the few steps across the room to the older man's side, turned him to face the door and urged him out of the room

"Let's go Jack, before you talk yourself out of this completely."

They followed Andrew out of Daniel's study and down the stairs. Their route out to the backyard was punctuated by frequent pauses to stop and chat with the family and friends gathered for the day. Eventually they moved through the French doors into the backyard.

Jack gaped at the surroundings. "Geez Daniel, when ya said you were gonna do some landscaping back here this is a little more than I was expectin'."

Daniel snorted a laugh. "Believe me Jack, what we had done back here was very simple. This," he gestured at the rose-covered arch at the far end of the yard and the huge banks of flowers in planters trimming the outer edges of the lawn, "this is my letting Vala get carried away because it's for you and Sam."

"Now," Daniel urged Jack forward to where Andrew was already waiting at the far end of the yard, "I believe that's where we're supposed to be."

It took them only a few moments to traverse the path created by the grouping of chairs on either side of the yard. The gathering of family and friends who had been socializing inside the house followed them out to settle into the chairs. It was another few minutes later, in the midst of a nervous joking conversation between Daniel, Jack and various guests about if Sam was much longer it was going to look like Jack and Daniel were getting married, when the cello player began the piece of music Sam had selected to start the ceremony. There was a sudden flash of white light and who Jack was marrying was no longer in doubt.

Daniel couldn't help, as he listened to Jack and Sam repeat the familiar words reflect on his own recent marriage. He hadn't ever actually expected to marry again. It'd always seemed too big a possibility for pain than he'd ever wanted to risk again. He had though and with someone who seemed completely wrong for him. He looked over at Vala standing on the other side of Sam. Appearances could be so wrong. If someone had come to him right after his first encounter with her on the Prometheus and said he would marry her, he would've called the person insane. Now, he couldn't imagine his life without her warmth and intelligence, without her humour and irreverence. Without her love. She glanced over, giving him a bright smile. He winked at her and was rewarded with the beaming smile that lit him up.

The request for the ring in his jacket pocket brought Daniel's attention back to the ceremony. A few moments later when Jack O'Neill bent to kiss his former 2IC for the first time in public, Daniel caught sight of Vala's teasing smirk and the subtle movement of her head to indicate something behind him. Without a single word needing to pass between them his mouth curved into an answering smirk of comprehension. He took a step to the side to retrieve from behind a pedestal of flowers beside where Andrew stood, a small bag that had been stashed there earlier. In one movement, he turned back to the newlyweds, pulled the bag open and dumped it on Jack's head.

The General released his bride, slowly straightened to his full height, confetti cascading around him, and fixed the SGC's head archeologist with a faintly amused and mildly irritated glare.

"Daniel."

The younger man smirked at him. "Jack."

"Guess you're thinkin' 'turn-about's fair play'?"

Daniel's face creased into a wide, fake smile. "Yup."

Before Jack could make a response he and Sam were engulfed by the rest of the guests. Daniel moved away from the crowd surrounding his two best friends, finding his way to his wife's side.

"Ahhh," he sighed, slinging an arm around her shoulder, "revenge is sweet."

Laughing Vala, slid an arm around his waist and gave him a quick squeeze. Arm-in-arm they lapsed into silence watching their former teammates talk and laugh with the well-wishers clustered around them. A waiter with the catering company they'd hired appeared at their elbows several minutes later with a tray of champagne flutes.

"Ohhh, champagne, how lovely," Vala almost cooed, reaching for a flute.

Daniel shot her a pointed look over the rim of his glasses as he reached for his own flute.

"Just this one for the toasts remember."

She grinned at him, "Oh but Daniel, don't you want a repeat of our wedding night."

He grimaced. "Vala, there are more important things at stake here aren't there?"

She pouted. "Really Daniel, what harm could a second glass do?"

His mouth settled into a grim line. "Vala, you agreed to one glass. I was willing to wait until after today, but you insisted, so you're limited to one glass."

Her pout became a soft smile. "Yes my darling, I know, I was just teasing you."

Gazing up at him with love in her blue-grey eyes she touched the rim of her glass to his.

"To a healthy baby."


	17. Author's Notes

Hi.

This is not a new chapter…sorry. I just needed to say a couple of things to everyone reading this and it seemed easiest to do it like this way. First of all thanks for everyone's reviews…your appreciation for my work has gotten me over the 100 mark, so thank you kindly.

In reading those reviews I've discovered that many of you have read into this chapter something that isn't there and I need to clarify the situation so you won't be confused by the next chapter I post…and I also want to issue a general warning of sorts to everyone reading…whether you post reviews or not.

Vala has NOT arrived home from Europe already pregnant…if you read the last two or three lines in Chap 16 you'll see that Daniel says something about waiting until after the J/S wedding but she was too impatient….as of the wedding they've only just started working on conceiving.

Now for the general warning: I'm taking them down a road that no one else has and the next 3-4 chapters will be not be "la-di-da, hunky dory"…so be aware Chapters 18-21 are very angsty. Although Chapter 19 should be enjoyable as it will have a definite 'adult' theme. There will be a …what I like to think of as a 'fitting' resolution by Chapter 22/23.

I hope in the long run that what I'm doing will be found to be satisfactory. Thanks for staying with this story.


	18. Late Nov 2009, Jan 2010

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: So I'm assuming that everyone has read the warning that was the previous chapter. This chapter picks up 3ish months after the J/S wedding and therefore it's been 3-4 months since Vala's words at the end of the J/S wedding...and then as of the second scene in this chapter it'll have been 6 months since she made that toast. In the meantime there's been a birthday...Vala is now 38.

* * *

**Late November 2009**

He didn't need the girl on the morning radio show to tell him the 'Springs had received its first serious snowfall overnight. All he needed to see was the reflective almost translucent quality of the morning light slowly spreading through bedroom.

Daniel stretched. Every muscle in his body protested. He squashed a groan into the pillow under his face. Could be he was getting too old to be spending almost three days taking part in war games. Still it'd felt good to get out of the mountain. To do something different physically and mentally. After his excursion to Atlantis, everyone, including himself, had been hesitant with his physical limits. It'd taken no ill effects to Dr. Lam weaning him off most of the drugs she had put him on initially, for him to feel like he was getting back to his old self. Testing and finding that his physical stamina and his strategic agility still measured up had been satisfying. Although not quite as satisfying as ending the weekend nestled into the soft, heat of his wife. Which he would've been more than happy to repeat at that moment if she hadn't been just emerging from the bathroom, showered and fully clothed.

He watched her, through a barely open eye, stroll across the room to him. Her hand landed with a thwack against the duvet that covered his ass.

"C'mon you. Time to get up."

He opened both eyes and smirked at her.

"I already am."

Her eyes narrowed, she bent down towards him, curving her hair back behind her ears and gave him a cheeky grin.

"As much as I'd love to help you with that darling, there really isn't time."

Her hand landed on his ass again. " Now get moving or we'll be late."

He shifted enough to watch her move towards the door, thoroughly enjoying the way her jeans followed the curve of her hips, despite her being was out of focus.

"And that's a problem for you?" he asked with heavy amusement.

She stopped in the doorway and turned back to him. She shook her head.

"You know one of these days I'm going to let it be known that you're usually the one delaying us, not me."

He grinned at her. "Ah but no one will believe you."

She put her hands on her hips. "Oh and why is that?"

His grin widened. "I wasn't the sex goddess was I?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, turned and disappeared into the hallway. Chuckling softly, he pushed the duvet back, swung his feet to the floor and sat up. The odd intermittent ache that'd recently taken up residence at the base of his left kneecap twinged. He paused, rubbing at it while he listened to the traffic report. The population of Colorado Springs might be used to winter, but the first serious snowfall usually caught everyone off guard. Today's drive to the mountain was going to be arduous. He got up with a sigh and headed for the bathroom. Winter just wasn't his thing.

He stepped into the shower, hoping the hot water would ease the stiffness in his body. Snorting a small laugh at himself, he reached for a facecloth. Heat wasn't going to do much for the stiffness between his legs. Frigid water maybe. Or himself. He picked up the soap and contemplated that option.

A short time later he emerged from the shower, completely clean for the first time in three days with his entire body feeling decidedly less stiff. He reached for his electric razor and flicked it on. It buzzed briefly, then stopped. Grimacing in annoyance he realized it hadn't been it's recharging stand since Friday. He clicked it into its cradle and opened the medicine cabinet to retrieve a disposable razor and shaving cream. It only took a swipe of the razor for it to be painfully obvious that he needed a new one. He swore. This was shaping up to be an outstanding day. He slid his glasses on and yanked open the cabinet under the sink. Squinting through the haze of fog on his glasses he scanned the contents of the storage baskets. He was sure there was an unopened package of razors in one of them. Finally catching a glimpse of it under several other things, he pulled out the basket and reached in to extract the package. An oblong pink coloured box came out with it. Daniel squinted past the last traces of moisture on his glasses to make out the text on the box. He straightened slowly, rereading the box to make sure he wasn't mistaken. Frowning slightly, he set the box on the counter and resumed his morning task. He couldn't stop his gaze from wandering back to the box again and again. It's presence in the bathroom cabinet and the fact that half the box's contents were already missing churned up several reactions; some hurt that she hadn't mentioned it along with a surge of hope and excitement. Although that began to diminish when he thought about when she could have used the test without his knowing and that her behaviour since then certainly hadn't been markedly ecstatic about anything.

Washing the last vestiges of shaving cream from his face he brushed his teeth then wandered into their shared walk-in closet to find clothes. He emerged a few moments later in jeans and a black turtleneck sweater, scooped up the box from the counter and followed the aroma of fresh coffee to the kitchen.

She was in the middle of unloading the dishwasher when he came to a stop in the doorway. Her eyes flickered to him and then back to sorting cutlery into the drawer.

"Was wondering what happened to you. Thought you might've gone back to sleep."

"Nope," he joined her at the kitchen counter, reaching into an upper cabinet for a travel mug, "discovered my electric razor was outta power so I had to go hunting for a new disposable. Found this at the same time."

He set the box on the counter in front of her.

She barely glanced at it before she resumed taking things from the dishwasher.

He closed the space between them.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked quietly, watching her closely.

She shrugged, reaching to place bowls in the cupboard. "There was nothing to tell Daniel. It was negative."

The tiny seed of hope in his gut vanished in a quick pang of disappointment.

He put his hand on her arm. "You didn't think I'd want to hear that you thought you had reason to buy it in the first place?."

She turned away from him to take the carafe from the coffeemaker. "It was no big deal, Daniel." she poured the steaming liquid into his mug, and returned the pot to the machine, "You were on P2Z 347 working on that treaty, I was a couple of days late so I tested, it was negative, then a day later my flow started."

He watched thoughtfully as she crossed to the 'fridge, took out a carton of cream and brought it to him. Almost anyone else would've believed from the detached, emotionless tone in her voice that this was really no big deal to her. Daniel didn't. He'd heard that tone every time she'd claimed that she didn't really consider Adria her daughter.

Shrugging she handed him the carton. "Guess I might have jumped the rifle a bit."

Still eyeing her carefully he took the cream, set it on the counter, then put his mug down beside it. With both his hands free, he reached for her, tugging her closer.

"Maybe," he slid one hand along her cheek, caressing the skin with the side of his finger, "Carolyn did said this could take us awhile. We're not 20 anymore…"

She cut him off with a harsh bark of laughter. "Specifically I'm not 20…you…you could still be creating children when you're 80." she stepped away from him, moving around the room in agitation, flipping off the coffeemaker, checking that the timer on the crock-pot was set, "you know I'm beginning to think there might be advantages to the whole 'conception without the necessary bits' method."

He leaned back against the counter, crossed his arms over his chest and considered her.  
"Oh, so you want to do the 'demon-child hell bent on the subjugation of all humans' thing again?"

She stopped in the middle of the room and looked directly at him for a moment, then dropped her gaze to her fingers twisting together. She shook her head.

He pushed away from the counter, taking the few steps across the floor to her.

"Didn't think so" he said softly drawing her into his arms, "and I doubt you're really willing to skip the 'necessary bits' are you?"

She made a soft sound of amusement against his chest and shook her head.

"Yeah, neither am I," he laid his cheek against her hair and tightened his arms around her, "we just need to have some patience Val,…we'll get there."

The grandfather clock in the dining room chimed the hour.

Daniel pressed a soft kiss to hair. "C'mon time to go, or we really will be late, traffic's pretty bad this morning."

He loosened his arms around her, moved back from her slightly. "Can you fix my coffee while I get my briefcase?"

She nodded with a faint smile.

"Thank you." he said, dropping a light kiss on her mouth as he headed upstairs to his study.

* * *

**January 2010**

The metal ramp leading down from the 'gate clanked under the footfalls of five pairs of military boots. Daniel threw a glance up at the window of the briefing room outside General Landry's office. His wife's dark-haired figure was not there. A faint crease of disappointment appeared between his brows as he followed the members of SG-6 down the ramp. He had gotten used to her being there if she was on the base when he returned from being off-world. Through his ponderings on Vala's absence he barely caught General Landry saying his name. He looked up to the control room, suddenly aware that the rest of SG-6 had gone and the General was looking at him expectantly.

He cleared his throat. "Uhh, sorry General. What was that?"

"I said how did the talks go."

Daniel took the last step off the ramp. "Uhh, good, Surprisingly actually. I think this is the first time I've brokered peace talks between warring nations where the leaders are actually ready and willing to negotiate."

Landry nodded in satisfaction. "Good to hear Doctor. Debrief with SG-6 in an hour after you're done in the infirmary."

"Yes sir." Daniel acknowledged with a dip of his head as he exited the room into the corridor.

Throughout his whole by-rote post-mission check-up he kept expecting her to come sashaying into the infirmary, greet him with a chaste kiss that promised something less than chaste when they were alone, and light him up with a dazzling smile. It didn't happen. He exited the infirmary and headed for his mission debrief. His hands crammed into his pockets, his gaze, as his thoughts bounced between where Vala was and the request the historians of Invera had made, was focused almost unseeing on the floor. He didn't take notice of the figure in his path until Mitchell's hands seized his arms to keep them both from stumbling.

"Geez Jackson, ya know those glasses only work if ya're actually looking at where ya're going."

Daniel focused on his friend, blinked and pushed his glasses up.

"Oh…yeah…sorry Mitchell," Daniel frowned, "so you guys aren't offworld?"

Cam shook his head. "Nope. Jenny Ferguson's grandfather died, so the team's doing downtime until she gets back. Why?"

Daniel's frown deepened. "Then Vala's offworld with another team?"

Colonel Mitchell looked at the archeologist in puzzlement. "Uhh nope, why would you think she was?"

"It's…it's just I haven't seen anything of her since I got in from Invera and I'm trying to figure out where she is."

"Well I'm know she's around 'cuz I had lunch with her."

Daniel narrowed his eyes at his friend. "So what kinda mood was she in?"

Cameron's eyebrows went up, "Now that's a weird question Jackson," then he huffed a quick laugh, "wait, don't tell me you two had a big fight before you went off-world and now you're wonderin' if she's still pissed at you."

Daniel pursed his lips in disdain and shook his head. "No, of course not. But…but," he suddenly stammered, looking for a logical reason for his question, "she…uhhh…has been…uhh…rather moody lately and I'm just wanna know what kinda mood I'll be walking into."

"Well," Cameron drawled thoughtfully with a shrug, "near as I could tell she was her usual self."

"Didn't seem unusually excited or quiet?"

The colonel shook his head, "Nope."

Daniel nodded, backing away from Mitchell to continue in the direction of the briefing room, "Ah good, thanks Mitchell…gotta go…debriefing," he glanced at his watch, "in…uh…5 minutes."

"Sure, no problem. Catch ya later."

Daniel nodded, shooting a quick backward wave over his shoulder at his former teammate.

The debriefing was mercifully quick and to the point. He managed to keep his mind on the subject of the peace treaty between the peoples of Inverna and Skye, despite the need to figure out where his wife was and the excitement he'd been trying to tamp down about the last conversation he'd had with Invernian scientists. When Landry drew the debriefing to a close and dismissed the members of SG-6, Daniel lingered until he and the General were the only ones left.

Landry looked directly at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Something else Doctor?"

Daniel took a breath and cleared his throat. "Uh yes sir, actually there is."

The General folded his arms across his chest. "Which is?"

Daniel took another breath and plunged in.

"Well sir, the Invernian historians would like to do a full-scale archeological dig at some ruins on the far side of their biggest city and have requested my assistance in making sure it's done correctly. Apparently they've had problems in the past with maintaining site integrity; cross-contamination between areas of the dig, mislabeling, that type of thing, so I was hoping to get approval to give them long-term assistance sir. It's been a very long time since I've done any real archeological work and now that the galaxy is relatively peaceful and I'm not really a permanent part of any of the front-line teams and I've made a dent in a lot of things that have piled up on my desk in the past 10 years…"

He paused to take a much needed breath. Landry's hand on his arm kept him from continuing.

The General was watching him open amusement. "I get it, son, but I'll need to see a proposal first."

Daniel smiled gratefully, "Thank you sir. I appreciate it."

Landry patted his arm with a smile. "Not at all, son. Now if you'll excuse me I have some rather exciting requisition forms that need signing."

"Of course General," Daniel turned to go, only to suddenly stop and turn back to the General once more, "by the way sir, have you seen Vala?"

Landry stopped at his office door, gazing off into space for a moment while he tapped a finger thoughtfully against the files in his hand. He suddenly smiled.

"Yes I did Doctor. I saw her having lunch with Mitchell."

"Thank you General," Daniel responded with a weak smile.

Landry nodded, stepped into his office and closed the door. Worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth Daniel gathered up his files and headed back to his office.

On the way there he took brief detours to places he thought he might find his wife, including a careful foray into the women's locker room. The one surprising place he consistently forgot she was known to hang out in only occurred to him while he was waiting for the elevator down the hall from the locker room.

Daniel stopped in the doorway of Bill Lee's lab. In his rare self-reflective moments he had to admit to a certain envy for the unexpectedly easy friendship Vala had with Bill. From the beginning Bill had welcomed her into his workspace, happily engaging in light conversation with her and taking seriously her opinions and knowledge of any Goa'uld technology that might be stumping him. There had never been any of the animosity between she and Bill that seemed to be a basic part of her relationship with himself Of course, Daniel mused moving into the room, that was probably because the physical tension inherent in his relationship with Vala was missing between her and Bill.

"Hey Bill." he greeted.

The slightly rotund bearded scientist jerked in surprise. A small blue arc of electricity jumped between the square object in his hand and the index finger of his other hand.

"Ow!" he yelped, sticking the jolted finger in his mouth as he raised his eyes to Daniel.

"Dan'l," he exclaimed around his finger, "Nith to thee oou. Whap can ..ah do f'r oou?"

A small smile of amusement passed over Daniel's mouth.

"Nice to see you too Bill. Umm…just wonderin' if you've seen Vala?"

"Yeth," the scientist nodded vigorously.

"Thee," he stopped suddenly to remove his finger from his mouth

He flashed a sheepish smile, "Sorry. She was here for most of the afternoon," he glanced at his watch, "She left about an hour ago."

Daniel, consulting his own watch, pressed his lips into a grim line. An hour ago he'd been just finishing in the infirmary. That meant when he'd come through the gate expecting to see her, she'd been in here with Bill. He exhaled a harsh breath. He knew the little stab of jealous annoyance in his gut was irrational. Still it rankled that while he'd been stepping through the gate looking forward to seeing her, she'd been hanging out here, avoiding him. Which was what he knew she was doing. He had a hunch why too. It just wasn't something he wanted to think about before he could talk to her. He raised his gaze back up to meet Bill's pale blue eyes.

"And you haven't seen her since then?"

Bill shook his head. "Uhh, sorry no, but," he brightened suddenly, readjusting his glasses, "if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say…given," he glanced quickly at his watch again, "the time that is…she's probably in the commissary."

"I mean uhh," the scientist cleared his throat and readjusted his glasses again, "that's generally what she does around 4 doesn't she…goes to the commissary for a snack?"

Daniel focused on his watch, actually registering the time. He stifled a groan. Right. Vala usually joined a group of civilians from the accounting department around 01600 for a snack.. He knew that. The time deferential between home and Inverna had him out of synch.

He nodded to Bill with a faint smile. "Uhh yeah, you're right Bill, she does. Thanks."

Picking up the square device again, Bill returned the smile. "Sure Daniel. No problem. Glad to help."

"Yeah…good, thanks…see ya later." Daniel said turning to leave.

Bill's already distracted "Yup", followed him into the corridor.

Daniel pushed through the doors into the commissary, catching sight of Vala almost instantly. She was seated at a table in the back corner with her back to him. Surprisingly she was alone. After a brief detour to grab a cup of coffee, he slipped into the chair beside her.

"This a private party or can I join too?" he said quietly.

She turned to him, gracing him with a dazzling smile.

"Hallo darling," she said brightly, planting a smacking kiss on his cheek, "Nice to see you home."

"Yes well, you would've seen me sooner had you been at the 'gate like I figured you would be." he replied dryily, eyeing her with a steady gaze.

"Oh I am sorry darling, but I was helping Bill at the time and didn't want to suddenly desert him." she poked at the piece of cheesecake on her plate

"I'm sure he would've understood."

Vala threw a quick glance at him. "Yes, but I'm not sure you would have Daniel…you're the one who's always expected me to keep my commitments and I had committed myself to helping Bill this afternoon."

Daniel pressed his mouth into a tight line of exasperation, irritated that she'd managed to use one his principles to justify eluding him.

"Be that as it may, I can't help thinking you were trying to avoid me."

"That's ridiculous Daniel. Why would I do that?"

"I'm don't know. You tell me."

"I'm not sure what you want me to say Daniel," she paused, suddenly glancing at her watch, "and right now I don't actually have time to figure it out it. I have a sparring match with David."

He caught her arm as she jumped up from her chair. "Whoa, wait…you're sparring with David? Banks?"

She looked down at him and nodded. "Yes, apparently I'm less intimidating than Teal'c. David's an crack shot but his skills at hand-to-hand combat need some work…they're worse than yours darling."

Daniel pursed his lips, giving her a look of annoyance.

Vala leaned down with a seductive grin. "But then, your hand-to-hand skills in the bedroom are the only ones that matter to me."

He gritted his teeth. "Vala," he started.

"Must go darling," she jumped in before he could make any reproving remarks, "I'll be back in about an hour and then we can head over to Jack and Sam's"

Daniel lunged to catch her arm before she was out of reach, "Wait…what…we're having dinner with Jack and Sam? Tonight?"

She nodded.

He looked at her in disbelief "Vala, I just got in, I'm tired and the last thing I want is charred steak doused in beer."

Vala frowned at him. "That's not fair and you know it. Jack's actually turning into a pretty good cook. And knowing that you'd be tired when you got back was the reason I made this arrangement with them…I don't particularly feel like cooking and I didn't think you'd want to go out so getting Jack to cook for us made sense, besides we haven't seen much of them since Christmas and it's not like we actually have to do anything beyond being there. I mean who else isn't going to be insulted if you fall asleep and start snoring.?"

Suddenly he was weary of this all too familiar hide-and-go-seek conversation with her.

"Fine," he sighed, taking off his glasses to rub at his nose, "just come and get me when you're ready to go."

She leaned in to put a soft kiss on his cheek, "That's perfect darling. See you in awhile."

Daniel watched her out-of-focus figure disappear through the doors into the corridor. He set his glasses on the table and rubbed his fingers into his temples, wondering how many cups of coffee it was going to take to get rid of the caffeine withdrawal headache he was developing. Or whether the headache might have other causes.

She fell into silence the moment they stepped from their garage into the back hallway of the house. She had been bright and talkative all evening at Jack and Sam's and for the entire drive home, then it was as if a balloon had suddenly deflated. He shed his coat and boots, watching out of the corner of his eye, while she slipped off her own boots and hung her parka on the large coat stand in the corner. He'd suspected from the way she'd greeted him in the commissary with a wide smile and a flow of conversation and had made sure they really hadn't been alone since then that she'd been avoiding the subject of the pregnancy test. He'd let her get away with it only because he knew that sooner or later they would be alone. It was now later. Closing the space between them before she could go upstairs, he rested his hands on her shoulders.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

Shrugging away from him, she started up the stairs. "Nothing," she said over her shoulder, "It started the day after you left."

In sad silence he watched her disappear up to the second floor. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. Disappointment twisted a little more each time. He hung his coat on the rack beside hers, put his boots on the boot tray next to hers and headed for the front door to reset the security system for the night.

When he slid into bed she was facing away from him, tucked up on her side in a loose fetal position. He turned towards her, spooning up against her back. She didn't react to him but from the rhythm of her breathing he suspected she wasn't asleep yet. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned his forehead against the back of her head, taking in a breath of her scent.

He exhaled the breath in a long sigh. "God, I love you so much Vala and I wish there was an easier way to do this, but there isn't. All we can do is keep trying."

In the darkness he thought he felt her nod. He gathered her closer.

"…if you want to stop sweetheart, just say so, okay?"

There was no response. For a moment he wondered if he was wrong and she actually was asleep. A second later, she had turned in his arms to face him, her hands sliding inside his pajama pants and her mouth closing around his, insistent and heated.

He'd known from the beginning of their relationship that there were certain truths inherent in getting involved with the former host of a sex goddess. First that his own sexual adeptness was average and not extensive. He didn't have a fount of knowledge and experience to draw on to drive her insane with desire, all he really had going for him was depth of feeling and patience. She, on the other hand, knew all the ways to shut down his brain to everything except the pounding need for satisfaction. Second, sometimes her actions bordered on being a power play. He usually didn't let it bother him; it was after all pretty tough to find a reason to object to his wife expertly bringing him to a mind-blowing climax. This time however it did bother him. He just needed to make himself focus beyond his pajamas being down around his knees and her mouth on him. He wrapped his hands around her upper arms and lifted her up away from his crotch.

"Stop it," he hissed tightly

In the faint illumination from the streetlights he saw her eyebrow tilt upward and her teeth flash in a seductive smirk.

"You don't really mean that."

"Yeah. I do."

"Come now Daniel," she purred, moving to straddle his hips, "this is just more of the necessary bits."

He tightened his jaw, fighting to not get distracted by her flesh, moist and soft, sliding over his. He grabbed her hips to stop her moving against him.

"No, this is you using sex as a distraction to avoid talking to me. Now stop it."

She went completely still for several seconds then wrenching his hands away from her hips she moved off him.

"You know Daniel, talking doesn't always solve everything." she spat, grabbing her robe on the way out of the room.

"Vala…" he called after her, trying to follow her as he pulled his pajamas back up.

He arrived at the door of the guest bedroom just in time for it to shut in his face. He knocked at the door.

"Vala. Come back to bed please."

Silence was the reply.

He leaned his forehead against the door and knocked again gently.

"C'mon Val, just come back to bed."

He waited for several more silent moments, then turned and trudged back to their bed. He sprawled down on it with a sad sigh, flinging an arm across his eyes. Such a perfect way to end the day.

The next thing he was aware of was the voice of the radio morning show host telling him that it was 6:00am and the temperature was –20F. The smell of fresh coffee was wafting up from the kitchen. He sat up, snippets of what went on the night before flickered across his brain. He groaned. He'd instantly dropped into exhausted sleep without any further attempts to make amends with her. Going to sleep after a heated exchange of words, still ticked off with each other was not that unusual. It was the fact that he had left her alone, despite knowing her actions, since the moment he'd stepped through the 'gate, had been so she could continue to pretend that having a baby with him really wasn't that big a deal to her. This was going to be just a peachy day. He was going to be wallowing in guilt for most of it. Which really was absurd since if she'd simply talked to him they would've gone to sleep wound around each other, warm and content after a blissful session of making love instead of sleeping cold and alone in different rooms.

He swung out of bed, took a quick shower, dressed and headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

Her cheery 'good morning' along with a bright kiss and his travel mug full of fresh coffee being handed to him the moment he appeared in the kitchen was not what he was expecting.

He put a hand on her arm to stop her from turning away.

"Vala…look about last night…"

She cut him off an airy wave of her hand. "No big deal Daniel. I overreacted, that's all. Now can we get going please," she continued, heading out of the kitchen, "I was asked to tag along with the group of new recruits that SG-5 is taking off world today…sorta like a cultural guide I guess. Anyway their briefing is at 0800 and I'd really like to get breakfast before hand."

He sighed heavily, watching her move down the hall towards their coats and the door to the garage. Somehow he should've known that she'd brush off their clash last night as 'no big deal', just like she'd be brushing off her deepening unease over their current situation as being 'no big deal'.


	19. late April 2010

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: Their first wedding anniversary(sigh happily)...what's that saying? ---"the best laid plans of mice and men oft' do go astray"... especially when your job entails you stepping into the complete unknown

The chapter that follows this one is a continuation of this event. The only reason this one ends where it does is because there a change of scene and if I didn't end it there then this chaper would end up being almost 10k words.

* * *

**late April 2010**

"Daniel."

Her familiar husky voice seemed to come from out of a fog, and made his heart lurch.

He choked back a sob. "Oh God, Val…"

"Right here darling," the voice from his normal life whispered.

"S..so…so…rry," Daniel mumbled pushing the heels of his hands into his eyes to stem the flow of bitter tears.

"For what my darling?" her voice was soothing near his ear.

"Ha…have…left you….'lone…pr'mised," he leaned his head back against the wall behind, tossing it from side to side as he exhaled a shaky breath, "…pr'mised not to."

"Hush Daniel. You haven't left me alone." her voice seemed to be fading in and out.

"…have!" he blurted in a broken voice, "G'd, I di'nt e'ven get to kiss you g'bye."

"Shhh darling, everything's going to be fine I promise and when we get home you can kiss me all you want…as a matter of fact I'm going to insist on it."

He shook his head, "Not gonna g't 'ome…gonna die here."

"Oh Daniel," her voice cracked, "I promise you won't, not if I have to anything to say about it anyway. You don't think I'm letting you out of that surprise for our anniversary you promised quite that easily do you?"

Daniel expelled a dreamy sigh. "Was B'lize."

"B'lize? What's B'lize?"

"Co'ntry on Pacific. Was takin' you there for an'iver..s…sary."

"And what's in B'lize?"

"Ruins"

"Daniel Jackson you better not have been planning on dragging me around to a bunch of ruins on our wedding anniversary."

He let out a wheezy chuckle. "A 'course…why else… why w'ld I w'nna roam rainf'rests full a ex'tic an'mals, stay in a pr'vate cabin on the beach,…ya know a wall slides back so's it'd be l'ke we're makin' l've on the beach."

"Oh Daniel," she sighed, "that sounds delightful," she suddenly cleared her throat, "right, time to go home...if I can find the door in this rather pitiful structure."

Then there was no sound for a very long moment.

"Vala?" Daniel croaked in desperation.

Even a hallucination of his wife to keep him company was better than dying alone. He'd suspected from the start that the meagre amounts of food and water he had been receiving also contained just enough kassa to keep him quiet and the pain bearable. The dreams though were becoming unbearable. When he called her friend and coworker, when the Trust had taken her, dreaming of her had been bad enough. Now, as his best friend, his companion, confidante, his lover, his wife, these drug-induced dreams of her were heart wrenching. That those dreams were now vivid enough to hear her voice, was proof the kassa was building up in his body to addiction levels. He pressed his face into his hands, choking back sounds of pain and fear.

A quick, low screech penetrated the haze of anguish that enveloped him. He looked up to see the flimsy door swing open. He squinted myopic eyes at the figure silhouetted in the opening by fading moonlight.

"I'm right here Daniel," her voice came from the figure moving toward him across the dirt floor.

Daniel stared at the figure, his heart thudding in his chest. This was it. He was done. They'd left him, since they'd dumped him in here, with nothing except a daily ration of kassa-tainted food and water, to go slowly insane from the hallucinations, and now that he was hearing the husky voice of his treasured wife coming from one of his captors, he wouldn't fight his sacrifice to end the torment.

He continued to stare as the figure knelt before him and reached for his hands. He tensed, waiting for the life-ending slice of blade against skin. Warm, gentle hands lifted his wrists. A quick flick of a knife severed the coarse, twisted length of vines that bound his hands.

In the barely-there moonlight he gazed at her in bafflement, grasping to believe that she was real. He reached out to where a thick cascade of ponytail should have been brushing her shoulder. A silky curl of hair wound around his finger like it knew his touch.

"Vala?" he whispered, uncertain.

"Yes Daniel." she murmured, moving forward to embrace him.

His sudden moan of pain made her draw back instantly.

"You're injured?" she asked urgently, laying her hand along his cheek.

"..s'not important," he muttered, twisting away from her touch, "need to go now, 'fore they come…or we'll both die," he reached to touch her face, " 'though at least we wouldn' be 'lone," he finished in a broken whisper.

Vala grabbed his hand away from her cheek.

"Daniel," she hissed, "I didn't come all this way for either of us to die. Now focus! I need to know how badly you're injured. And don't you dare," she paused, eyeing him with a hard gaze, "try to tell me you're fine, because you're not. I know the difference between your sounds of pain and your sounds of ecstasy and that noise you just made didn't resemble ecstasy at all. So spill!"

Closing his eyes, he strove to believe the possibility that he was going home, He pulled in a shallow breath; anything deeper would sent a shot of searing pain through his torso.

"Ribs." he exhaled an equally shallow breath.

"Crap…broken?"

"Dunno…prob'ly."

"How many?"

He leaned his head back against the rough wall behind him. "Uhh…couple…mabbe three."

She sighed heavily. "Well that explains why you haven't gotten out of this rather crude structure."

"Yeah, that too."

"There's more?"

"…ankle's kinda messed up…lost glasses,…pack an' weapon."

"Which ankle?" there was the sound of the knife snicking shut and being slid back into it's holster. "Can you walk on it?"

"Right…an' I dunno…there's a choice?"

Reaching forward to examine his ankle, she grunted a derisive sound of amusement. "No I suppose not."

Familiar gentle fingers eased his right boot away from his foot, probing at muscle and bone with tender care. Daniel let out a soft, slow breath, feeling his entire being relaxing under her touch. For the first time in almost ten days it seemed possible that he might see home again.

She sat back on her heels after a moment and began to dig in her pack. "Well thankfully it's not broken and the swelling is mostly gone but you're going to have to be careful, any missteps and it'll blow up like a balloon," she handed him a small paper packet and her canteen, "here these should help until I can see to wrap your ankle and ribs properly."

He downed the tablets with a long chug of water.

"Daniel," she admonished, pulling the canteen away, "you know better."

He swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, "S…s..sorry…jus' tastes good after the stuff I've been gettin'"

She rummaged in her pack, "That bad huh?"

"Yeah, prob'bly because of the kassa."

She raised worried eyes to him. "Kassa? You've been getting water laced with kassa?"

He nodded. "…food too I think.

She rocked back on her heels and stared at him, "Crap… so that means we'll be coping with some level of withdrawal before we get to the 'gate."

Daniel gave her a weak smile. "…ta quote a friend…'indeed'."

"How bad do you think it will be?"

He made a vague negative motion with his head. "Dunno…las' water I had was prob'ly 8 or 9 hours ago…right after I woulda been jumpy and talkin' to myself, now mostly I'm sloppy…gotta buzz – kinda like I've drunk a coupla beers too fast…and I wanna sleep but the dreams…" his face crumpled, "oh God Val…the dreams, I just kept relivin' ev'rything we've been through…wh..when I thought your voice was comin' outta one a' the natives…I…I thought I was hallu…hallucinat…in' and…"he shut his eyes and swallowed hard.

She reached forward, laying her hand along his tear-dampened cheek.

"Shhh…it'll be fine Daniel, really, I promise…I'm here and I'm real and we're gonna go home okay?"

He leaned into her hand and nodded.

"Okay, good. Now first thing you need are these." she put into his hands a small rectangular object she had taken from her pack.

He looked at her, a vague smile touched his mouth as he cracked it open.

She returned the smile.

He took the contents out of the package and slid them onto his face. His wife came into sharp focus.

He reached out, tracing the curve of her cheek with a shaky finger. "S' happy to see you."

She smiled. "Likewise. Now let's see how far away we can get from here before dawn shall we?"

She stood up next to him. "So how do you want to do this?"

"Dunno…carefu'ly, I s'ppose" he gritted as he eased himself back to sit upright against the enclosure.

She looked down at him, shaking her head in disbelief. "Brilliant Daniel."

"On'ly som'times" he breathed past the jabs of pain in his torso.

She stooped to brace his elbow with her hand. "Like when you married me."

He turned his head to look directly at her. The corners of his eyes crinkled briefly.

"Ab...absol'tely."

After two or three movements aborted by sharp jolts of pain, he pushed her hand away from his elbow.

"No Val…not helpin'…'m not moving as well as you…gotta," he took as deep a breath as he could, "figure this out as I move…jus' be ready…support," he pushed against the enclosure with the backs of his arms, " as I stand."

Five minutes, and an almost continuous stream of every swear word he could remember in every language he could remember, later, he was upright, leaning heavily on Vala, gasping for breath, sweating profusely and waiting for the nausea roiling through him to ease.

He gave her shoulder a squeeze and flashed a shaky smile. " 'K…less' go home."

By dawn, a light rain and Daniel's laboured breathing forced them to go to ground in a small cave barely two kilometers from where they started. Together they eased him down onto a rock ledge towards the back of the cave.

She knelt in front of him "How ya doing?"

His initial response was a grunt. A moment later his lids flickered open and he looked at her, the usual crystal blue eyes glassy with exhaustion and pain.

"Been better." his eyes closed again and he leaned his head back against the rock wall, "my absence has prob'ly been noticed…you should prob'ly do somethin' to keep 'em off our track."

She patted his leg as she stood up. "Yes I've been thinking the same thing," she dropped her pack beside him on the ledge, "I could be gone for a bit, you going be okay 'til I get back."

She dug in her pack, catching his slight nod out of the corner of her eye.

"…jus' leave me water and 'zat."

Vala pulled an item out of the pack and took off the wrapper. She tucked it into his hand.

"Here you can have this too, but go slow with it."

He didn't even have to crack an eye open to identify the object. An actual amused smirk tugged at his mouth.

"…jus' what I been cravin'."

Vala snorted a laugh. "And I thought it was just supposed to be pregnant women who had weird cravings."

He put the hand without the energy bar, on her arm, fingers lightly stroking the fine, tender skin of the inner surface. She looked down into his blue eyes, now soft with love.

"Mabbe soon we'll find out if tha's true huh?"

With a faint smile she patted the hand that lay on her arm. "Yeah maybe soon."

She stepped away from him to shrug her tac vest back on.

"Stay safe," she murmured, stooping to place a kiss on his cheek.

His free hand moved to the back of her neck to guide her mouth to his in a deep, needy kiss. He let her go after a minute, staring at her with serious, earnest eyes.

"…be careful."

"Always Daniel, always."

She put a soft kiss on his cheek and then was gone.

The ache in his ribs and a rustling noise close by woke him. He opened his eyes to the sight of a female figure rummaging in her backpack.

"God, you make a lotta noise," he rasped.

Vala turned affectionate grey eyes on her husband.

"Hey handsome. How ya doing?"

He cleared his throat. "…'l things considered," he shifted too quickly, the localized ache in his ribs suddenly became a stab of heat that radiated through his entire torso. He gasped for breath to continue.

"…still defin'tely…been…better."

She watched him closely. "Gonna be okay?"

"Yeah…jus' peachy," he made a more cautious shift in position, "on the bright side brain's clearer and I think I'm reh'drated,…prob'bly going to need to find a tree soon."

"Well I hope you can wait 'til after I've wrapped your ribs and ankle so you can manage on your own, because as much as I like handling your equipment Daniel, I really don't relish having to help you with that."

His first laugh in days came out as a breathy wheeze, "Aw Vala…'m wounded. Who's gonna help me when I'm old and decr'pit?"

Kneeling in front of him she gave him a brilliant smile that lit up the cave and his heart.

"Someone we hire darling because I'll be old and decrepit too."

He watched her remove his boot and sock to examine his ankle. He rested his hand on her head and closed his eyes. The familiar sensation of her hair against his fingers and her touch on his skin was as close to home as he was going to get at that moment. There was a part of him that would have been content to spend of their days holed up together somewhere, far from the things that threatened them on a daily basis, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. He opened his eyes, letting his hand stroke down and off her hair.

"…wha's the situation outside?"

"Well it's raining fairly steadily. I hope that means if we've left any sort of trail it should be getting blurry. I've managed to knock a small tree down so it looks like this entrance has been blocked by a windfall. I think we should be safe here to wait out the worse of the rain and let you gather some strength for the rest of our trek," her eyes flickered to the crude drawings on the stone walls, " unless of course this place is some sort of shrine for the natives, in which case we're screwed."

Daniel shaking his head drew her gaze.

"…not a shrine…leas' not anymore."

Chuckling she went back to bandaging his ankle. "Only you Daniel would be deciphering crude drawings when you're injured and on the run."

"Don' knock it… this's the first time brain's felt close to normal in a week or so."

She shook her head, centreing most of her concentration on adjusting the bandage. "So why isn't it a shrine anymore?"

"Dunno exactly. I'd need to move to examine the drawin's closer. From what I can see quickly somethin' happened an' now this place is cursed."

"And how do you know that?" she secured the bandage with a butterfly clip and reached for the clean socks she had taken from her pack.

Daniel opened his eyes and gestured around the space, grimacing as his ribs protested the sudden movement.

"…bright blue eyeballs drawn over other stuff, there…there…there…an'," he indicated to a spot directly over his head, "here…ancient Earth cultures used a blue eye or somethin' with a similar shape to ward off evil."

"Think I've had that eye turned on me a few times." Vala mumbled as she returned to tying his boot.

"O'ly when you lie darling'."

Amused at the affectionate irony in the endearment but also offended at his implication that she still lied to him, she looked up at him.

Blue eyes, similar to the drawings, looked back at her, intent and precisely focused. "Like now mabbe?"

She glared at him. "Daniel, I'm insulted and hurt that you think I still lie to you.

"'K, granted, you don't lie anymore and I'm sorry for implyin' that you do. But," he raised an eyebrow, "there is somethin' you're not tellin' me."

"Like what?" she untied and removed the other boot.

"Like why you're here alone. Where's the others Vala?"

"Well Teal'c is waiting in orbit for us, which reminds me," she took a quick look at her watch, "I'll need to radio him soon that we're on our way back to the 'gate."

"Mitchell? Sam?"

Vala delayed replying by replacing his other sock and then the boot,

"Being here would put them in serious trouble, they would have been considered AOL." she said finally

Daniel blinked at her. It took a moment for him to figure out what she meant.

"Vala, you know AWOL means 'absent without leave', and you also know p'rfectly well what AOL is "

She shrugged as she finished retying his boot. "Yes well whatever, the point is once the search was officially called off if they were involved in any further search and rescue attempts they would have been court-martialed."

She got to her feet to stand directly in front of him. "And while I'm sure you know they were willing to pay that price for you, Jack insisted that you wouldn't want them to. So under great and vocal protest they backed off."

Daniel shut his eyes and swallowed past the tightening in his throat. To have acquired a group of friends more loyal and dedicated to each other than most families always amazed him. He opened his eyes to find Vala watching him with soft and open love on her face.

"Now, if you're ready to put some weight on that ankle I want to get you standing so I can wrap your ribs properly"

A few minutes later, he was upright, albeit pale, sweating, breathing harshly and unsteady on his ankle. Vala gazed with dismay at the myriad blooms of yellow, green and purple spread across his torso as she peeled his t-shirt over his head.

"Oh Daniel, did they beat you?"

He shook his head a little sheepishly, "Fell in a hole…or mabbe was more of a pit."

"Before or after you lost your glasses?"

His breath caught and he flinched as she starting snugging the bandage around him.

"… how I lost 'em and ev'rything else and how I came to be a guest of the locals."

"A trap?"

"Yeah, dunno whether it was meant for animals or jus' people. We'll hafta watch for it on the way back. I'm jus' glad you didn't land in it either."

She fastened the first bandage and started the second one before she glanced at him with a fleeting smile. "Um, yeah, me too."

He watched her in silence while she completed her task, trying to identify the odd tone in her voice.

The last butterfly clip fastened and his t-shirt back in place, Vala stepped back and smiled.

"There, how's that feel?"

He made a few tentative movements and tried a slow inhalation of breath. He managed to keep smiling through the lingering jabs of pain.

"Better. C'mere," he reached for her, settling his hands on her waist to pull her towards him, " thank you."

She dropped her gazed to her own hands curled around his waist and shrugged. "It's what the team does for each other darling, you know that."

"Yeah, but it's also what you do for me."

She tilted a teasing look up at him. "Which is what darling…irritate you, tease you, turn you on like you don't want people to know, drive you wonko?"

A smile tugged at his mouth, making all his dimples flash. "All a' those," he tipped her face towards him with the a finger under her chin, "an' for being my life."

She wrapped her arms around him to softly embrace him, her forehead resting against his shoulder. They stayed like that until they were reminded of Daniel's less than stable ankle. Vala took a quick step away from him to grab a long thick tree branch leaning against the rock ledge.

"Here. Found this when I was out earlier, hopefully it will help. Now go find your tree and I'll do some food for you. Eggs or pancakes?"

He flashed a grimace as he hobbled to the cave opening. "God, I def'nitely, don't want the Frisbees," he stopped at the entrance, turning back to give her a teasing smile, "I know they're your favourite anyway."

She shook her head, her nose wrinkling in faint distaste. "Mmmh, not today, I'll probably just take a couple of bars with me when I go out to radio Teal'c."

Daniel looked carefully at her. "You 'k?"

"Yes Daniel, I'm fine…my stomach's just been a little off the last couple of days because I've been worried about getting you out of here. I'm sure I'll be back to my usual ravenous self once we're home."

It was Vala nestling in beside him that woke him the next time.

"Hey, relieved you're back, missed you." he whispered into her hair.

"Yeah I'm relieved too."

"Problems?"

"A couple…you're definitely a hunted man Daniel Jackson, but you are right about this cave, they're giving this entire area a wide berth and I noticed some hand carved blue eyes hanging from a few trees nearby. Figure out what happened?"

"Nope, was pretty sudden whatever it was, like someone came in overnight and just drew this stuff on. All the other drawings depict hunts and ritual sacrifice, pretty standard stuff for a primitive society. I'd say we're lucky to have stumbled on the one place we could be safe…wish Teal'c could just beam us up from here."

"Unfortunately that won't happen so we are going to have to leave to get home."

"You wanna go now?"

She snuggled down against him, slinging her arm over his chest. "No, I could do with a nap so we'll give ourselves an hour, eat something and be off as soon as the suns start setting."

"Travelin' at night is going to work best?"

"Yes, thanks to Cameron I've got a pair of night vision goggles. They're what helped get me to you as quickly as I did."

"For which I'm im'inently grateful, can't help wishin' though that this had been last week, we'd be in Belize now."

"Mmmm," she murmured, nuzzling into his shoulder, "basking in the sun at a sumptuous resort sipping fruity alcoholic drinks with little parachutes."

Daniel chuckled, tightened his arm around her and let his hand slide up under her t-shirt to softly stroke over her belly.

"That'd be parasols, not parachutes."

"Well they could be umbrellas for all I care, I'm just impressed that you actually put some thought into our anniversary."

He shrugged. "Was just too good an opportunity to pass up."

Vala tilted as seductive smirk up at him. "Oh you mean an opportunity to get me completely alone so you can have your way with me."

"Well no...I was actually thinking more along the lines of it being a good opportunity to try to find the ruins of the temple where my grandfather found the crystal skull."

Vala sat up completely and glared at him. A smirk spread across his face. He reached out to ghost his fingers up her forearm and back down again.

"And after I was done that then I thought I'd have my way with you," he whispered, urging her back to his side.

She gave him a playful swat on the arm as she lay back down. "You've turned into quite a tease."

He curled his arm around her, pulling her tight against him. "Mmhmmm…been taught by one of the best."

Daniel scraped up the last of the tuna noodle mixture, grateful for normal food, or as close to normal food as MREs could be, and forked it into his mouth.

"You know," he eased back against the rock wall, the single portion of coffee Vala had allowed him cradled in his hands, "one of the hazards of my getting food, liquid and some rest is that my brain function is now good enough to wonder how you and Teal'c got here."

Vala barely paused in eating the remainder of the apple crumble dessert from her MRE.

"A Tel'tak"

"Not helpful Vala. How come it took until after the official search was ended to figure out how to reach me?"

Shrugging she poked at the contents of a foil container marked "Oriental Beef"

"My fault I'm afraid. When I arrived back with SG-8 the day after you disappeared and discovered what'd happened, I…I shut down…I wasn't much good for anything for the rest of that week."

Vala glanced at him. The silvery shimmer of pain and fear in her eyes hit him like a ton of bricks. Until that moment he'd never realized that his sudden disappearances devastated her as badly as hers did him. He blinked away his own tears. She dropped her gaze, continuing in a soft voice before he could make a reply.

"It was a very difficult week…it was too painful to go home, when I was able to sleep it was only in my old quarters, I spend most of my time in the office. That's where I was when I realized that I knew where you were. The other four had been discussing, rather loudly at times and for what seems like hours, the AWOL situation. I wasn't paying much attention to anything except the stuff sitting on your desk, including the aerial survey of the ruins here. And, I don't know, maybe I was just looking at it from a different angle, but I suddenly recognized the configuration you had outlined in marker."

Daniel almost choked on his last swig of coffee. "You've been here?"

Vala took a mouthful of food. "Not me actually. Qetesh."

"You were here with Qetesh? Why? There's nothing here except those ruins."

'No, not with Qetesh, it's just her memories I'm getting from a long time ago when those ruins were Min's palace."

Daniel frowned at her. "Wait…wait…are you saying that Min was Goa'uld and Qetesh spent time here with him?"

She gave him an apologetic grimace. "Uh yeah, pretty much."

"Great," he took his glasses off to rub at his nose, "just every guy wants to hear, that his wife has memories of spending time with an entity who had the reputation for having a permanent erection."

"A reputation was all it was. I get the impression that he just gave his host a lot of stamina," she leaned against him, her voice dropped to a purr and her gaze trailed over him like a caress, "much like you have anyway without needing the help of a nasty snake."

A wave of pink flooded his face. She laughed, a low, dirty sound that sent a frisson of heat through his groin.

He shot a sideways glance at her. "You're incorrigible."

She laughed again. "And you love it."

"Not the point."

The seductive tone in her manner and her voice gentled. "Right, my point was Min's reputation was built on stamina, the effects of kassa and toys."

Daniel's brow creased. "Toys?"

"Yes, you know little toys that can extend a man's staying power."

"Oh!" he said in soft surprise, "umm…yeah…right."

Biting back an affectionate chuckle at his innate awkwardness with this type of topic, she put a hand on his cheek to turn his gaze directly to hers. "Daniel, it's never occurred to me to compare you to anyone else I've ever been with. That would mean lowering you to their level and I wouldn't do that."

She sat back away from him and picked up her foil container. He gazed at her for a long minute before he found his voice.

"So," he cleared his throat, "uhhh, it was Qetesh's memories that got you onto the planet?"

Vala put the container down again. "Yes there's a ring platform near the ruins. It's too bad you didn't get to the ruins you would have been safe from the natives and instantly transportable."

"Yeah well that was stupid on my part. If I hadda been less focused on tryin' to figure what was wrong with the DHD, it might have occurred to me, before I was becoming affected by diminishing supplies and the suns, there might be a water source near the ruins instead of being driven by desperation in the wrong direction; straight into that pit."

He glanced at her when she made no comment.

"So I'm guessing you were aware of that hazard."

"Uhhuh."

"Well that accounts for the guilty tone in your voice when you commented about being lucky to not fall into it," he picked up the plastic cup of chocolate pudding from his MRE and tore the foil back, "was I right about the natives?"

She began disassembling the sterno burner used to heat water. "For the most part, yes, but the offering delivered to them thru the 'gate is normally an animal which they would eat as part of their sacrifice ceremony. I don't know if they'd take the step to cannibalism if they were given a human offering."

"Well thankfully they won't be taking that step with me.

"Yes thankfully." she agreed, turning to reorganize her pack.

Daniel finished the dessert and started fitting the empty containers back into their boxes to be packed back out to the SGC for disposal.

"You're not going to finish this?"

She glanced at the still mostly full container of 'Oriental Beef' he held.

"No. You can if you want."

"Ah no. I've always found it more than a little disturbing that they've even managed to make the beef taste like chicken."

She laughed softly. He continued with his task, casting an occasional glance at her.

He pushed the boxes towards her. "You're sure you're okay? You don't seem to have eaten much today. I'm going to be more of a hindrance than a help getting out of here remember so you need to be at your best."

"Yes Daniel, I know that, thank you," aware that she snapped at him she paused to soften her tone, "being anxious about that is the only thing that's making me feel off, okay?"

"You know I have every confidence in you." he offered softly.

Vala turned to look at him. A need to surrender to his familiar strength swept through her. She moved to help him stand. They stayed in the comforting circle of the other's arms for several minutes. Vala wished to see the interior of their bedroom when she opened her eyes. Instead she saw the rock walls of the cave and the changing light levels of the forest visible beyond the cave entrance. It was time to go.

She moved out of his embrace, pausing to scoop up the emergency blanket they had been sitting on. She tucked it into her backpack's last empty pocket.

"You know I could take that for awhile if you want."

Clipping the pack back onto her tac vest Vala glanced at him, He was leaning partially against the cave wall and partially on the tree-branch-cum-staff. She walked over to him, shaking her head. With a loving smile she put her hand on his cheek.

"Daniel, my always noble and chivalrous husband, you know that's not sensible. Your ankle and ribs wouldn't be able to stand the extra weight, so no. Your sole job on this excursion is to stay upright, stay with me and avoid further injury. Think of this," her smile became a cheeky smirk, "as payback for all those times I coerced you into carrying my pack."

The first four hours moving through unfamiliar terrain in the deepening darkness went better than expected given Daniel's loss of his usual mobility, speed and stamina. Around the three hour mark what stamina he started with was almost gone. At four hours his need to stop every 10-15 minutes to catch his breath forced them into an hour-long rest stop. The night vision goggles saved them from taking that rest almost on top of a sleeping encampment of natives. Three shots with the 'zat eliminated the native sentry that saw them.

Daniel shoved the weapon back into the holster on his thigh and sighed.

"Someday maybe I'll get back to a life where I don't have to do that to an innocent."

Vala helped him slide down a tree to the ground. "We do what we have to do to survive Daniel, you know that."

He unscrewed the canteen cap, "That's my point Vala. I'm tired of having to do it. His existence in this place is no less important than my existence on Earth. It may even be more important since this is probably a patriarchal society and his family would be dependent on him for survival."

Vala knelt down in front of him and handed him a couple of energy bars.

"And your existence is necessary to your family's survival too."

He shook his head as he took a bite of the bar. "Not in the same way. You guys would survive without me, his family might not."

Before moving off for a personal visit to the nearby bushes she watched him close his eyes and lean his head against the tree. That he was needed on his world by his family was the reason she was there.

Four hours brought them to another dawn and an hour beyond Daniel's endurance. If she hadn't been holding onto him and able to ease him to the ground he would have done himself more harm by simply collapsing under the rock overhang she had found. Moving further back into what was a fissure in one rock covered by another rock was accomplished in relative silence except for Daniel's bitten back grunts of pain. In the still cool temperatures just after dawn she left him to sleep while she replenished their water and made contact with the tel'tak in orbit. On her return, there was food and time spent rewrapping his ribs. Within the coolness of the rock surrounding them they slept through the worse of the heat from the double suns. The passion that always simmered between them briefly flared to life as they drowsed through the afternoon, but became nothing beyond a comfortable sharing of unhurried, intimate caresses. They roused to eat and break camp as the shadows in the forest began to lengthen.

Halfway through the planet's nighttime hours Daniel took the last of the Advil. The headache that had been steadily getting worse over the previous hour was making him nauseous. The medication took the edge off both. Then the chills started. Followed soon after by a buzzing sensation under his skin that he, at first thought had to do with the clouds of tiny flies they kept walking through. When he fell behind her for the fourth time in half an hour because he kept stopping to brush away with increasing agitation the clouds of flies, Vala knew he had been right about the kassa.

Near dawn, after dealing for two hours with his anxiety and paranoia about the bugs and that something was following them she stopped them to rest. His inability to stay still, coupled with her growing fear that she wouldn't be able to cope alone with the worst the withdrawal process could bring, forced her to get them moving again.

About an hour from the rings they emerged from the forest. Daniel's grasp of reality kept fading in and out. There were so many sensations coursing through his body that even the throbbing ache from his ribs was simply part of the buzzing still rippling under his skin, the migraine that had returned and the waves of nausea washing over him. Through it all. she was there, with a steadying hand if he stumbled, words of encouragement and a couple of times with a slap to his face when he just wanted to stop and curl up into a ball. In one of his less lucid moments he caught sight of the 2 inch long scar on the back of her neck. He launched himself at her, clawing at her neck, desperate to keep a snake from stealing someone from him again.


	20. late April 2010, cont'd

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:**

Just wanted to remind you all of time frame and ages.

This is late April 2010....approximately their first wedding anniversary.

Daniel is 45 and Vala would be 39.

The last chapter ended just at the point where they'd made to the rings. This chapter picks up a day or so after that.

* * *

**April 2010, pt 2**

Returning consciousness brought two things: the vague sensation of motion and the familiar aroma of antiseptic. Daniel cracked an eye open. Even with his near-sighted vision the surroundings were instantly recognizable and surprising. The voice beside him was also instantly recognizable and equally surprising.

"Hey Sunshine, welcome back."

Daniel opened his other eye to focus on the fuzzy image of Cameron Mitchell sitting on the end of the bed.

Daniel licked dry lips. "Odyssey?"

Cam handed him a cup of ice chips. "Nope, Apollo."

Making a vague nod of understanding Daniel tipped several of the chips into his mouth and let the blessed coolness melt down his throat before he said anything else.

"How?" was his next question.

"When Teal'c let us know that you and Vala were on the way out and that you'd be needin' medical attention we all just hopped aboard to come and say hi."

Daniel smiled slightly around another bunch of ice chips. "Thanks."

Cam patted his foot. "No problem buddy, you'd do the same for the rest of us."

"Yeah," he agreed with another faint smile, "How long've I been here?"

"A day or so. We should be home tomorrow."

Daniel nodded drowsily, "Tha's good." his eyes began to close on their own, "…gonna go back to sleep now."

Cameron patted his foot again. "You betcha and I'll try to have the whole gang here the next time you wake up."

True to his word, Cameron had the rest of the team assembled at Daniel's bedside the next time he woke. That his wife was missing registered as soon as he opened his eyes.

"Where's Vala?" were the first words out of his mouth.

"Resting Daniel." Sam answered from her spot on the empty bed next to him.

"Is she okay?" his brow suddenly creased, "Oh God, did I injure her somehow?"

Without his glasses he missed the glances that passed between his four friends.

"Why would you think that Daniel?"

He squinted at Sam, trying to see the expression that accompanied the odd tone in her voice.

"Got a vague memory of tackling her because I thought the scar on her neck was a snake was trying to take her, then a flash as the rings were activating of her in pain and there being blood."

"Rest assured DanielJackson, you did her no harm. She is recovering from the effort she put forth to bring you home." Teal'c's tone softened with respect and affection, "she is indeed a remarkable warrior in her own right."

"Damn straight. Once she realized where you were, she planned this whole operation and insisted on carryin' it out by herself."

Daniel slid his glasses on having located them on the bedtable. He focused on Jack O'Neill standing at the foot of the bed.

"Insisted on doing it herself? She told me Mitchell and Sam would've been considered AWOL and risked court-martialed if they'd been involved."

"Geez Daniel…so what else is new? Hell, we've always been threatened with that for doin' somethin' the IOA didn't like or that wasn't a direct order from higher up….which I was ready to call in some favours to get 'em by the way, but Vala was pretty hard-nosed about being the one to go. She seemed to think she was partially responsible for this happening."

Daniel frowned. "Now how would that be possible?"

"We don't know Daniel," Sam said, "she never explained exactly. All I heard was her mutter about the number and letter nomenclature we use to identify planets instead of the planet's common name. I think she felt if she had known the common name from the beginning she would have recognized what you were stepping into," Sam shrugged, "maybe she's right, maybe we should be making a point of adding the common names to all the planets on our database."

"I believe that would be a wise decision," Teal'c offered, "I too recognized the risks when I heard the common name of that planet."

"And just what exactly were the risks Teal'c? Vala didn't explain much," a small wry smile flashed across Daniel's face, "of course, she might have and I just don't remember because my brain function was less than optimum."

"Did she tell you the ruins were once the palace of Min?"

"Yeah that I remember and I can't tell you how thrilled I was to learn Min was also Goa'uld and that Vala has Qetesh's memories of being at his palace with him."

"Did she also explain about the kassa?"

Daniel put down the cup of ice water he had been sipping at. "That I don't remember."

"Kassa grows in its' original wild state there, but only in locations where it is shielded from the intense radiation of the two suns. It requires the intense heat but the full levels of ultraviolet light kills it. I have heard old stories that tell of Min creating a shield to block out half the ultraviolet. Vala MalDuran memories from Qetesh indicated the areas around the stargate and the rings are not covered by the shield as it makes them inoperable. Qetesh's memories also seem to suggest that it was Min who had the chemical makeup of the plant altered to enhance it's hallucinogenic properties."

"To what purpose."

Teal'c flicked a glance at Cameron. "The subjugation of the peoples on the planets under his control would the most logical reason, as it would also have been the purpose of the other system lords who controlled the planet after him. It is only the Lucian Alliance who cultivates kassa for profit."

"Any idea why I couldn't get the 'Gate to redial Teal'c?"

"From my conversations with Vala MalDuran during our voyage to P4B 728 from Earth I understood that it was only possible to dial into P4B 728's gate once during the planet's cycle. She believed that cycle would approximate to Earth's month. Then the connection only stays open until a life form crosses the event horizon or until a full day/night cycle of the planet has passed. Another wormhole cannot be established until another 'month' has passed."

Sam frowned. "Why?"

"To allow for a once a cycle delivery of a living creature so the natives can make a sacrifice of thanks to their god for a successful harvest."

Horrified, Sam looked over at Daniel who was staring at his wedding ring as he fiddled with it.

"Did you realize that Daniel?"

He looked up at her. "Yeah I figured it out. I didn't get it right away because their language was a lot like the tongue clicks and throat sounds of Swahili and I don't know enough about Swahili to be able to interpret the sounds, then I started picking up actual words that reminded me of Arabic. By about the fourth day I'd figured out that either I was the reason for the feast or I was the feast. After that the kassa I was getting was shutting down my higher brain functions. I couldn't concentrate enough to get a more specific definition of the words I was hearing and since I was going to die anyway it sorta became irrelevant whether or not they were going to eat me afterward."

All four of his friends recoiled at his words. Even Teal'c looked taken aback at the suggestion of cannibalism.

"Vala MalDuran said nothing about Qetesh's memories implying that the natives engaged in such a practice DanielJackson."

He nodded. "Yeah Vala said the same thing to me too."

His gazed dropped to his wedding ring and then back up to his teammates. "Speaking of Vala…."

With the number of situations the five of them had found themselves in where clear communication was reliant on correctly interpreting almost imperceptible glances he had no problem catching and reading the wariness that passed between the other four

His eyebrows went up and he shot a questioning look at his friends.

"Guys what's going on? Where is she?" he couldn't keep the unease out of his voice.

"She's…"

"I'll handle the rest of this conversation if you want Sam, while I do a quick check on my patient."

With Carolyn Lam's arrival his four friends left Daniel to her attention, promising to return to share dinner with him. He bided his time until she was done checking him, waiting until she was making notes in his chart.

"Carolyn? What's going on with Vala. I didn't imagine the blood did I?"

He tried to keep his manner calm but each time he hadn't gotten an answer from his friends about her his anxiety level went up another notch. By the time he finished speaking this time his voice was tense.

Carolyn deposited the chart in the holder at the head of the bed and sat down beside him.

"No Daniel you didn't. She started to miscarry just as the two of you reached the rings."

Daniel blinked at her in confusion. "Miscarry? But that would mean…," his eyes went wide, "Oh God," his voice dropped to a whisper, "did I cause it when I jumped her?"

Carolyn patted his hand, "No I don't believe so. Vala said she had been feeling off most of that day."

He snorted a disgusted laugh, "For most of that day? Try for the previous two days I would say."

He thumped his fist against the bed, "Damn it, I had a hunch something was up when she didn't take the MRE pancakes like she usually does."

With a sigh he leaned back against the pillow and flung his arm across his eyes. " How far?"

"I can't say for sure Daniel. We were still a day away from the tel'tak when Teal'c let us know what was happening and he had no way of preserving anything that would have given me an age so I can only guess. I did a thorough exam on everyone about 2 ½ months ago and she wasn't then so no more than 2 months I'd say."

"Did she know?"

"I don't know that either Daniel. She hasn't said one way or the other."

"Damn! Damn! Damn!," each word was punctuated by his fist against the mattress.

Carolyn put a restraining hand on his wrist. "Daniel, the IV?"

He took his arm away from his eyes to glance down at the intra-venous connection on the back of his hand.

He gave her a sheepish smile. "Oh right, yeah, sorry."

"No problem at this point, just don't let your obvious agitation dislodge it. And I'd guess by that level of agitation you think she knew?"

"Oh yeah, she knew," he took his glasses off to rub his eyes, "if she didn't you'd have gotten a definite 'no' from her. Evading the question usually means she's hiding something."

Carolyn smirked at him. "Sounds like you."

He laid his head back against the pillow with a derisive laugh. "Why do you think I recognize the technique?"

He paused a moment only to thump a fist against the bed again. "Damn her! We've been working at this almost a year and just when we seemed to have succeeded she risks it all… and for what?"

Carolyn cleared her throat. "Umm…Daniel?…to bring you home?"

His eyes flew open and he looked at her sharply. "Yeah, right of course, granted, but apparently she insisted on doing it herself when any one of the other four were just as capable as she. God," he slapped the bed surface with his open palm, "she is so bloody stubborn she's absolutely infuriating. Sometimes I could strangle her!"

Carolyn put a calming hand on his arm again.

"Daniel," she admonished, "I was going to detach you from the IV for awhile so you could go and see her, but now it only be if you promise to not get angry with her for doing what she thought was best."

With a deep exhalation of breath he leaned back against the pillows. "Yeah Carolyn, of course."

The door sliding shut behind him got her attention. A brilliant, loving smile lit her face. She put down the magazine and pulled the 'earbuds' of her I-pod from her ears.

"Hallo darling…"

That was a far as she got. A lifetime of coping with too many losses overwhelmed him. He lashed out in blind fear.

"You," he gestured at her, "are positively certifiable sometimes do you know that?"

He turned away from her to pace the room.

"We've been working at a baby for almost a year and just when we might have actually succeeded you risk it's life and your own on an operation that any of the other four could have carried out just as well! And don't," he turned to look directly at her, thrusting a pointed finger at her, "you dare tell me you didn't know."

She glared at him in shock, hurt and mounting anger. Without taking her eyes off him, she raised both hands to her eye level.

"Thank you sweetheart for bringing me home," she ground out between clenched teeth, moving one hand as if it were talking "you are truly an amazing woman for pulling off this highly dangerous mission on your own."

"Really darling," she started the talking motion with her other hand, "what else could I have done. I will…"

Daniel broke in with an emphatic nod, "Yes Vala, yes, I can't express how proud of you I am or how grateful I am for getting me out of there, but that still doesn't explain what the hell you were thinking to risk everything like that."

Vala dropped her hands to her lap, glaring at him disbelief. "What was I supposed to do Daniel? Leave you there and resign myself to raising our baby on my own?"

"NO!" he almost yelled, "You were supposed to keep yourself and the baby safe and let one of the other four take the risk."

"I've already said that could have gotten them court-martialed!"

"That doesn't wash Vala.! I've already talked to them. They all said you insisted on doing this alone. Why?"

"Because," she hedged.

"Oh that explains it all so well." he spat sarcastically.

"Okay," she blurted, "You wanna know the truth? I screwed up! It was my fault you were there!"

Daniel gaped at her, stunned. "What!? How the hell do you figure that? "

"I wasn't paying attention."

He shook his head. "Vala, you very seldom pay attention to mission planning if you're not directly involved. Why did doing so this time make you responsible for my little adventure.

"Because I usually at least know where you're going. This time I didn't …if I had I would've stopped you from going…but I…I," she stammered looking away from him, "wasn't paying attention…I was distracted."

His brow creased into a frown. "Distracted? Distracted by what?"

She raised her eyes back to his, looking at him like he was stupid. "

"You know Daniel, for all of your genius IQ you can be awfully dense sometimes."

He scowled, waving an impatient hand at her. "Vala! Just…"

"Fine," she cut in, "I was distracted because after us trying for almost eight months to conceive, we finally seemed to have succeeded. I spent most of the last month swinging between being jubilant and waiting for it to end! And when it hadn't ended by the start of the second month while I was off-world, I was positively giddy."

She exhaled a laugh that wavered. "I was in such high spirits on the hike back to the stargate, I'm sure every member of SG-6 thought I had gone completely wonko."

She lifted her shoulders in a faint shrug. "I knew that you'd be off-world when I got in, but that was okay…it gave me a couple of days to make big plans for how I was going to tell you…so," her breath hitched, "when I stepped through the 'gate and you weren't there I wasn't concerned."

She took a shaky breath. "Then Sam met me at the bottom of the ramp."

Vala dropped her gaze to her fingers fiddling with a loose blanket thread. "I don't remember much after that, until Carolyn ordered me home a couple of days later. She seemed to think while we were trying to figure out why we couldn't redial the 'gate, I should have been eating and sleeping too. Being home wasn't any better though, I couldn't sleep or eat there either. Every…," she swiped at the glint of moisture on her cheeks, "everything reminded me of you…my chest ached because of the baby …and every time that damn clock we bought at that fleece market chimed the hour I started crying again…I hurt so much, I…I just shut down…I couldn't cope."

She raised her face to his, tears trickling down her cheeks. "I…I thought I'd lost you." she whispered.

For the first time since he'd walked into the room, Daniel finally focused beyond his own fears to see her. Shadows under her eyes were stark against her too-pale skin. She looked exhausted and fragile. Guilt for the pain he had caused swept away his panic fueled anger. He forgot sometimes that for all of her brash self-confidence, she depended on him, needed him more than he'd ever expected.

"Aaah God, Vala," he croaked, crossing the room faster than his ankle should have allowed, settling beside her on the bed to gather her into his arms, cocooning her against his chest.

"Shhh cara, shhh," he soothed into her hair, gently rocking her while hot, silent tears spilled onto his scrub tunic, "it's okay…shhh…it's over and I'm right here.

"God, I am so sorry," he murmured, one hand stroking through her hair, "for being angry. You've done nothing to deserve that. All you've been is amazing in all this and all I can do is lash out at you for taking risks…. I'm sorry, I'm such a jackass sometimes. Forgive me please?" he whispered, pressing kisses to her forehead.

At her slight nod, he cupped his hands around her face, moving her back from his shoulder.

"I love you so much Vala," he said softly, tracing her cheek with gentle fingers, "all I could think about when Carolyn told me about the baby was how bad it could have been. If you had started to miscarry before we got to the rings, I…," his voice wavered, "I would've been useless to help you," he had to pause to swallow past the catch in his throat, "you could've died." he finished in a hoarse whisper.

He watched fresh tears well up in her eyes and spill down her cheeks. She leaned in, pressing her mouth to his in a desperate need for comfort and reassurance that they had survived another ordeal.

He pulled back after a moment. "I'm not doing this anymore Val," he said softly, resting his forehead against hers, "I'm done risking my life every time I step through the 'gate. I'm going to resign from front line work."

Her eyes went wide. "But Daniel…"

He put a finger to her lips before she could say anything else. "There're no 'buts'…I've been thinking about this since that fiasco at Atlantis. My responsibility to you…to us, is more important than anything else."

Shaking her head, Vala took his finger away from her mouth. "But Daniel, your job is your life…you can't give it up."

"Not giving up the job…I just going to change my focus. Now that the archeology department has been given permanent funding, I want to actually run its day-to-day work, not just oversee it. It's been a very long time since I concentrated just on archeology. The idea of immersing myself into really studying everything we've found in the past decade is very appealing. Besides," he dropped his gaze with a shrug and wry smile to their hands folded together in her lap, "I'm tired…I've been doing this soldiering thing for almost 15 years…I need a break."

"Then so shall I." she said softly.

Daniel looked up at her in surprise. Until that moment it hadn't occurred to him that if he was going to stop risking his life for the sake of their future then she would need to do the same. Trust Vala to be unexpectedly logical and pragmatic. Still there were other issues.

"Will you be bored?"

Her trademark seductive grin flickering over her mouth, she raised her arms to wind them around his neck.

"Oh probably," she sighed dramatically, "but I'm sure we can find some way to solve that at least once a day."

He took her arms from his neck. "I'm serious Vala."

Her grin faded and her expression sobered. "Yes Daniel, I know that. So am I. I only have a problem with boredom if I'm stuck in a situation I can't change or didn't choose. I'm choosing this situation so I'm sure I'll be able to cope."

Her grin suddenly came back full force and she slid her hands around his neck. "Besides I somehow don't think I'll have time to be bored if I'm tending to a newborn and making sure my often preoccupied, workaholic archeologist husband remembers his family.

Her hands slipped into his hair. "And I was also serious about the once a day part too." she purred, leaning in to catch his bottom lip between hers  
The insistent tug of her lips on his made every nerve ending in his body shiver. He exhaled a soft sound of want against her mouth and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her back into pillows behind her. It seemed to have been long time since he'd held her like this, her body moulded to his, her mouth warm and caressing against his. He had missed her so much. It took jabs of protest from his ribs to remind himself that despite the heat arcing between them, neither of them was probably physically ready yet to sink into the pillows and make love. He broke the kiss, gently easing himself out of the position he was in.

"Uhhh…sorry," he grimaced, "this is gonna have to wait for awhile, spirit's definitely interested but body's not quite ready yet…your's probably isn't either."

"Oh I'm fine," she said brightly.

"Vala," he admonished with a skeptical eyebrow.

"No really Daniel, I am," she reassured him with a wide grin that he knew was fake, "I'm not in any pain and there hasn't been anymore bleeding since I came into Carolyn's expert care. Although I am rather tired, which isn't surprising given the whole," she made a encompassing wave with her hand, "loss of blood and not eating or sleeping properly thing."

He crossed his arms over his chest and studied her with narrowed eyes.

She flashed the wide grin again. He shook his head in exasperation. The intercom on the nightstand buzzed.

Daniel sighed and reached to answer the page.

Carolyn Lam's voice came over the speaker. "Anytime Daniel."

"Yeah, I'll be there shortly." he released the answer button.

"You're leaving?" Vala pouted faintly.

"Uhh yeah sorry, Carolyn needs to pump another bag of whatever she's using to neutralize the kassa into me,"

He reached for her hand. "But if you're feeling up to it, you could come up to the infirmary later for dinner."

Vala's mouth twitched into a smirk "Oh Daniel…how romantic…MRE's by candlelight…how can I resist."

He snorted a laugh. "If that's a turn-on for you sweetheart, but I'll keep it in mind for future reference. At the moment though I just thought you'd like to have dinner with the rest of us."

Her smirk softened to a smile. "I would. Buzz me later and I'll come up. I need to properly thank Teal'c for taking care of me on the tel'tak."

Daniel regarded her with loving eyes. "Yeah, we both need to do that.

Sliding a hand in along her cheek he leaned in and placed a soft, lingering kiss on her mouth

"Bye," he murmured, his mouth not moving more than a fraction of an inch from hers.

She barely got out 'bye' out before he was kissing her again.

He pulled away. "I'm going now."

Smiling Vala, pressed her mouth to his. "Okay."

Reluctantly he pulled away for the third time. "Have I left yet?"

She giggled. "No."

"Well then I should."

"Yes, you should." she breathed against his mouth.

The intercom buzzed again.

He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed. "Guess that's my cue."

"Yes I think so."

He sat back and stroked her cheek. "Tell her I'm already gone."

Vala smiled at him. "Okay."

She pressed the 'answer' button as the door slid shut behind him.

* * *

**Further A/N:** I don't normally add notes at the end but I didn't want to make any comments about this chapter at the beginning so I wouldn't put anyone off of reading it.

I'm really interested in hearing people's reactions to this one.

I had two people read this before I posted and I got two different opinions, so yeah I know Daniel's outburst seemed surprising, but in creating this scene it occured to me that given the situation...what he'd been through etc,...he'd be reacting from a gut level...and his gut reaction to her risking her life would be fear...and remember up to the moment Carolyn tells him what's happened he's had no awareness of Vala's condition so therefore he'd have no awareness of or sense of bond with the baby...therefore all that would be real to him would be that she could've died. But because he's not a complete jerk all the time..only has moments of being one,lol....as soon as he's realized how badly he's acted he completely contrite and the chapter ends on a loving note. And the next chapter will be a break from the angst, I promise...something fun with a healthy dose of 'adult' content. Hope you're staying with me despite the appearance of 'jerky Daniel ' in this one,lol


	21. Mid Sept 2010

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: Okay, once again things have gotten away from me and the whole chapter that covers this time period is actually over 10k words...ssooo I'm posting it in sections AGAIN!...plus...certain readers(and you know who you are) are getting antsy...so I'm posting this part now because it's ready and then I HOPE the second part will be ready for posting next week(crossing fingers).

Despite this being in the 'M' category I am issuing a 'adult' content warning...so reader discretion is advised

This pick ups approx 4 months after the previous chapter. Daniel is in charge of an off-world 'dig' that was mentioned a couple of chapters ago.

Oh and this is takes place in September so Daniel's had a birthday, so let's see that gives us.

Daniel: 45

Vala: 39

And if there's anyone questionning as to why Vala isn't using one of the kits...welll, I researched it and discovered that the closer one gets to 40 the less accurate they are...plus I've never used the kits but I did do the temperature thing so that's what I felt comfortable with describing

So onward and as always...anything you wanna say, I wanna hear.

* * *

**Mid Sept 2010**

Vala peered at the numbers. 99.5 Fahrenheit. She grinned. She didn't need to consult the folded piece of graph paper lying on the metal kit-box they were using as a bedside table to know that this morning's temperature reading was the same as yesterday's and what it meant. She slid the thermometer back into its' case and dropped it onto the surface of the metal box. She stretched, languorously like a cat, anticipating Daniel's momentary return and the lazy smile that would spread over his mouth when she shared the news. The slide of her foot over the cold sheets on his side of the bed stopped her in mid-stretch. It seemed to have been a while since he'd been in the bed. Frowning Vala sat up and retrieved her watch from amongst the other odds and ends on the metal box. Her elation dimmed a bit as she registered the date. Wednesday. The scheduled day for their once-a-week check-in with the SGC. To take into account the time difference Daniel had to have been up at 6am to do the hour long hike to the 'Gate. Vala focused on the actual time. 7:30. He would be on his way back but the next time they crossed paths would be over breakfast in the mess tent. So much for a baby-making romp in bed before the official 8am start of the day.

She pushed herself up off the mattress the locals had happily supplied for the comfort of the head archeologist and his wife, pondering just how she was going to share her news with him. He would want to know. She knew that. This entire approach to conceiving had been his suggestion. She'd understood almost nothing of the conversation he had with Carolyn Lam during the remainder of their trip home from Min's planet. The words 'ovulation', 'kits' and 'thermometer' hadn't made much sense until he had explained it in the privacy of their quarters. Vala smirked to herself as she pulled on the shorts she'd fashioned from a ripped pair of BDU pants. Aside from making the connection between the various magazine articles she'd perused, that had mystified her at the time she read them, with the discussion Daniel had with Carolyn, she'd been amused watching Daniel explain to her how they would determine when the best time to conceive would be. He could have a scientific discussion on sexual practices with another equally scientifically geared person almost without flinching but having the same conversation with her in the intimacy of their quarters brought a faint pink flush to his face. She'd struggled at moments to concentrate on what he was saying because a similar flush tinged his face and chest when he was heavily aroused. It'd taken an effort on her part to not give into the compulsion to deepen that flush by pushing him down to the bed and having her way with him.

Her smirk deepening, she debated the rest of her clothing options for the day. Today she wouldn't be resisting any urges to seduce him. Although her approach would have to be subtle. He wasn't known for blatant displays of affection in public. His attitude had always been that their physical relationship was no else's business but theirs. After Qetesh's preference for sex games in large groups, that attitude had taken some getting used to.

She took a sleeveless pale blue button shirt from her suitcase of clean clothes and slipped it on. It was, she figured, her best choice. He seemed to have a thing for her in pale blue and when the heat started to climb in the afternoon she could tie it up under her breasts, baring her midriff. That combined with the lack of sleeves and the amount of leg her shorts bared should give him ample skin to try to tear his eyes away from. A shiver curled up her spine in anticipation of finding his sky-blue eyes lingering on her like a caress. She reached for her watch, glancing quickly at the time as she fastened it around her wrist. Almost 7:50. A quick trip to the washroom facilities that had been set up for the dig and then she would probably find him in the mess tent. How she was going to share her news with him, while everyone else involved in the dig who would be getting breakfast at the same time, she wasn't sure. If she was lucky she'd catch him before anyone else was seeking his attention. Also if she was lucky she might find him in one of his rare playful moods, willing to flirt with her during the day. Not something that he was known for, at least not in public, but since embarking on this approach to making babies she'd discovered that he was sometimes open to teasing her. She had yet to figure out why, but she suspected it had something to do with giving her goal-oriented husband something concrete to focus on other than his work. On any given day his considerable brainpower was immersed in his work without a lot of thought given to bodily needs. Which was why he had a tendency to forget to eat sometimes and occasionally even to sleep if he was thoroughly engrossed in his work That lack of thought about anything besides his work was also known to extend to sex. Not that he often rebuffed her advances completely, he was as unlikely to pass up an opportunity to get laid as the next guy. The challenge was getting his brain to switch gears. Which was why she figured he was willing to engage in teasing and flirting with her when it should be the right time for them to conceive. It gave him a definite goal to slot into his thoughts, instead of the randomness of spur-of-the-moment sex.

Vala walked into the mess tent, scanning the trestle tables for Daniel's familiar figure. It only took a moment to spot him on the far side of the huge tent that had been erected to hold the cooking and dining facility for the 30 people, both staff members from the SGC's archeology department and the people of Inverna who were involved in the dig. She was pleased to see he was sitting alone, one hand wrapped around what she figured was probably his second or maybe even third cup of coffee of the day and writing in his journal. She made a detour to the serving line to gather a mug of coffee for herself and her favourite breakfast MRE of pancakes and sausage rounds…or Frisbees and hockey pucks as Daniel scoffingly called them.

She looked up as she left the serving line, her food in hand. She was disappointed to see that he was no longer alone. Iiad, one of the Invernian historians who had originally requested Daniel's help with the dig, had taken a seat across from him and was engaging him in sporadic conversation.

Pasteing a bright smile on her face she made her way over to the table. Juggling the mug of coffee and her breakfast MRE, she managed to settle herself beside Daniel on the bench without disturbing his writing. She aimed her smile at the bearded man across the table.

"Good morning Iiad."

He returned her smile. "Good morning Mistress Jackson."  
Vala shook her head. "Please Iiad, call me Vala."

"Vala," he smiled with a quick incline of his head. "How are you this morning."

"I think I am well." she replied, taking a small sip of the hot liquid in her mug.

Iiad frowned slightly. "Oh? You are not sure?"

Vala shot a quick glance at Daniel beside her, trying to discern whether any of this conversation was going to penetrate his work-focused brain.

"Well I did notice yesterday that according to an instrument we use for gauging our body temperature that my temperature was elevated, which can be a sign of illness. But since the same instrument told me this morning that my temperature is still elevated, and I am feeling quite well" she shrugged, tearing back the foil covering on her breakfast, "I don't believe I'm fighting any illness after all… as a matter of fact," she gave Iiad another brilliant smile, "I'm actually feeling quite full of life."

Iiad returned her smile with a slightly confused one of his own. "Oh…well I am relieved to hear that."

Daniel suddenly stopped writing and closed his journal.

"Iiad, if you're ready. we should get started. I'd like to see the excavation work completed on several of those trenches before the heat on the plaza gets too intense."

"I am Dr. Jackson. Shall we go?."

The man stood and stepped away from the bench seating.

Daniel rose, pausing to look down at Vala. "How ya doing with those tiles. Any problems with the translation?

She shrugged, returning his gaze. "A few, but I thought if I completed all the tiles then I might be able to get the ones I missed by the context of the text."

He nodded. "Yeah I'd do the same. I'll take a look when I come back down at lunch. In the meantime if anyone needs me, you know where I'll be."

"Mmhmmh," she replied, with a smile.

He put a hand on her shoulder for balance while he stepped backward over the bench. His fingers trailed feather light down her neck as he turned away. The glancing touch sent a frisson of awareness down her spine. She narrowed her eyes in thought, watching he and Iiad walk out of the mess tent. In the two and a half years she and Daniel had been together she felt she learned how to read his libido almost perfectly. She knew what turned him on the most, what turned him off the fastest, and what made him completely lose control. There were still times though when she couldn't decipher where his mind was. Like now. She was unsure if the brush of his fingers along her neck had been deliberate or not, because also in those two and a half years he had learned what effected her the most. Even things she hadn't been aware of. Until Daniel came along, sex for her, had been about power, pain, subjugation and something to relieve boredom while waiting for a scam to play out. She'd never before had an attentive lover focused on her pleasure, exploring and memorizing her with elegant nimble fingers and a warm, mobile mouth. No one else had discovered that any and all attention paid to the swath of skin that ran from behind her ears down the outside curve of her neck to her shoulder would get a reaction from her. Daniel had. Her face cupped in his warm, strong hands, long slim fingers lightly stroking behind her ears while he kissed her made her melt against him. Applying his teeth along that same strip of skin at the right moment would send her careening into long hard spasms of pleasure.

A pang of heat blossomed in the pit of her stomach. Smiling into her mug of coffee, she laid a hand across the back slope of her neck. The most recent marks were barely visible now. Given Daniel's insistence that their private life was, well, private; leaving marks on her skin for others to see wasn't something he would do on purpose. She was also pretty certain that he would be stunned at the suggestion that by marking her skin he was branding her as his. He would accept the societal concept of claiming ownership of her to protect her, but he would protest that in their society it was abhorrent to claim ownership of someone else and really, she was more than capable of protecting herself. Vala exhaled a small snicker as she popped the last piece of sausage into her mouth. He would be right there. She'd been looking after herself and surviving just fine, thank you very much, before Daniel had landed in her life. She did like the sense though, catching a glimpse of a mark on the back slope of her neck, gave her of belonging to someone. She also liked what seeing the marks told her about their relationship. The first time she had a glimpse of the faint pinkish marks down the outside curve of her neck had been one morning not long after the sixth month mark of their relationship. She'd been pulling her hair up into a rough topknot just before she went out running. The sight of them had stopped her cold as she tried to figure out what could have caused them. It'd only taken her a few moments to flash back to their lovemaking of the night before. It'd been the first time in their still relatively new relationship that he'd really let himself go and made hard, passionate love to her like she knew he could. Just thinking about that night and other similar nights since made her heart race.

"Vala?"

The sound of her name broke into her daydream of unrestrained, wanton sex with her husband. Startled, she blinked up at the two women standing at her side. Dr. Emma Butler, the youngest and newest member of the SGC archeology department and Broca

Zalon, one of the Invernian historians. An older woman with a dry and earthy sense of humour, she and Vala had become fast friends.

Vala gave them a bright smile. "Sorry ladies, just thinking too hard about other things I guess, I didn't see you there."

One of Broca's dark eyebrows went up. "And judgin' by the way ye were eyein' that fine husband of you'rn I'd say I know just what ye were thinkin' aboot."

Vala smirked at her new friend. "I'm sure you do."

A huff of disdain came from the younger of the two women. "Really you two, Dr. Jackson is a brilliant and inspiring senior member of the SGC and as such deserves much more respect than you two are currently affording him."

Broca shook her head. "And I would be in agreement with ye my girl, but he's also a particularly well-made man and as such we can appreciate him for that as well. Now, come along both of ye," she gestured towards the open tent flap, "we have work to attend to."

Vala gave up trying to concentrate around mid-morning. She got up off her stool, stretched and reached for her canteen. Taking a long chug of water, she screwed the cap back on and expelled a heavy breath blowing her hair up away from her face. In the two hours since she'd resumed her task of the previous day, she had achieved nothing. She couldn't focus on the characters on the tiles long enough for them to make any sense. She kept going back to everything she'd been thinking about at breakfast. Images of Daniel, aroused and passionate along with the memories of his hands, teeth and mouth on her skin had her body humming.

"I need a break," she announced abruptly, "I'm going for a walk."

"Radio's there," she smiled at Emma and Broca, gesturing to the radio on the table never the entrance of the tent, "if you need to contact anyone."

Without waiting for a response, she set off across the encampment. The direction of her thoughts made the main excavation site on the plateau overlooking the encampment her obvious destination. She strode up the path, stopping at the top to get her bearings. The grass-covered field before her was, she judged, about the same size as the field that the sports team in Denver, Cameron and Teal'c had taken her to see, played on…something about horses which were certainly beautiful animals, but she'd been much happier to discover that the team was actually made up of big, muscular men in short, tight pants. She moved forward into the space, exchanging greetings, as she passed, with the groups of people working small excavation trenches dispersed through the area that Daniel had theorized had been some sort of ceremonial plaza.

She grinned when she finally spotted Daniel on the far side of the plaza area. Speaking of tall, muscular men. He was standing with his back to her, his arms seemingly folded across his chest, lean, ratty-jean encased legs braced wide, deep in conversation with Nyan She strolled across the hard-packed expanse of dirt and grass relishing the opportunity to feast her eyes on him.

The well-washed blue denim shirt he'd been wearing at breakfast had been shed in the increasing heat of the morning leaving just the white tank-top that had been under the shirt. The white t-shirt, dazzling against his tanned skin, followed the perfect 'v' formed by the flow of his torso from narrow hips up to broad, muscular shoulders.

Closing the remaining space between them, happily anticipating the smile that would spread across his face at her news, she announced her presence by slipping her fingers up under the hem of his t-shirt to lightly stroke over the skin just above his belt. His conversation with Nyan didn't falter, he only shifted his stance to brush his hip against hers. She countered the gesture by looping her arm all the way across his back, to fit her hand into the curve of his waist. Closing her eyes, she brought her cheek to rest against the swell of his bicep, soaking in the warmth of his skin, the faint tang of work-induced perspiration and the sound of his voice.

"I don't really want to lose the flow of the text on the wall, so do what you can. If you find that it can't be stabilized then we'll have to see about taking the wall down this afternoon. We don't want people injured while they're trying to do rubbings"

"Agreed. I'll see what I can accomplish between now and lunch."

Vala felt Daniel nod and then hand something to Nyan.

"Yup, that's fine."

She heard Nyan's departing footsteps going back the way she'd come and then silence. Moving her head away from Daniels' arm, she tilted her gaze up to him. He was looking directly at her, but his sun-darkened glasses hid the expression in his eyes.

"Hi," was all he said.

"Hello," she replied with a soft smile.

"So what's up? Problems with the tiles?"

She shook her head. "Nope, just needed to take a walk…I've haven't been concentrating well this morning…feeling restless," she stretched up on tiptoes to brush her mouth against his ear, "and rather aroused."  
She felt a faint shiver pass over his body and saw the corner of the eye closest to her crinkle briefly.

"Likewise," he said blandly, "but I don't think this is the right place to do anything about it."

Vala took a step back, narrowed her eyes and twisted her mouth into a thoughtful 'moue'. Such a blatant admission like that from him was unusual His eyes were still hidden by the dark lenses so she couldn't see the tell-tale teasing glint in the back of his eyes but she caught the slight upward twitch of his mouth. She suddenly grinned in delight. Looked like he was willing to play.

She took the step back into his personal space and leaned against him.

"Oh, so you heard what I said at breakfast did you?"

"I did," he said softly, "Every word."

"And you didn't say anything?"

Behind the dark glasses his eyebrows rose in faint surprise.

"And what was I supposed to say Vala? 'I'm sorry Iiad you'll have get started without me, my wife is telling me we have to go have sex right now so we can have a baby'."

She shrugged with a smirk. "Well you've always insisted that honesty is the best policy darling."

He tilted his head and pressed his mouth into straight line. She couldn't tell if he was irritated or trying to smother a laugh.

"Vala, that would've been extremely unprofessional of me…and besides," he snorted a light chuckle, "it would've freaked poor Iiad out. You trouble him enough as it is without subjecting him to those types of images."

Vala tried to look innocent, cocking her head to one side, looking up at him through her eyelashes and twisting a strand of hair between her fingers.

"Oh? I trouble Iiad? How so?"

Daniel pursed his lips and shook his head.

"Cut the act Vala. You know perfectly well you make the poor guy nervous. You're very," he paused, tilting his head down to sweep an appraising eye at her over the top of his glasses, "uhh…female and very sure of your appeal. I can guarantee exactly how he's reacting to you. Ten years ago _I_ was Iiad and I _know_ for a certain you would've made me nervous. Hell," he snorted another light chuckle, "you make me nervous now and I'm married to you."

Her trademark seductive smirk blossomed across her mouth. She shifted closer to him, to block any view the teams working the trenches behind them might have of her actions, and slid her free hand up under the front of his shirt.

"And am I making you nervous now?" she purred, rubbing her hand over his hard, smooth belly and up across the flat, solid planes of his chest, deliberately circling her fingers around his nipples.

"Mmm," he grunted, grabbing her hand, "that's not the word you used a moment ago."

Vala let her eyes widen in fake surprise.  
"Oh well," she smiled sweetly, taking full advantage of the fact that he'd trapped her hand directly over one nipple, "I'm sure I could help you with that," she breathed, circling the tiny hard nub with her fingernail.

"Yes, I _know_ you could," he said tightly, shifting his stance, "but this wouldn't be the place."

Vala's smirk deepened at his obvious attempt to rearrange the way his jeans were fitting.

"Then maybe we should find the right place," she said huskily, plucking the tinted glasses off his face and hanging them by a leg in the open neck of her shirt.

His gaze hovered where his glasses were dragging the edges of her shirt down to disclose a hint of cleavage. Crystal blue eyes darkening to sapphire rose to meet her gaze. Heat rippled through her gut. Half the pleasure of flirting with him this way was knowing she was the only one allowed to see this side of him.

"As tempting as that is," he said quietly, "I've got responsibilities here that I can't abandon suddenly."

Vala huffed a sound of impatience.

"Daniel." came out with a slight whine.

"Ah, ah," he chided gently, "that's the way it is at the moment, but, after coming to bed late last night and being up before 6 this morning I am kinda tired" he released the hold he had of her hand to slide his fingertips, feather light, down her forearm and back up to her shoulder, "I think I might take advantage of the downtime after lunch the Ivernians take and have a nap."

She grinned slyly. "Oh I do like that idea, although I'm not sure there'll be much sleeping involved."

"Then I'll just hafta make it an early night too won't I?" he responded silkily, his hand drifting from her shoulder up into her hair to stroke along the outside curve of her neck.

Her eyes closing, Vala twisted her neck into the caress, almost purring like a cat. She swayed towards him, wanting nothing more than to have his naked body moulded to hers.

His voice just above her ear reminding her that they weren't completely alone brought her eyes open. A barely contained smug smirk played over his mouth. Vala narrowed her eyes at him. Right, this was a game of tit-for-tat and they both knew she was better at it. Nodding, she dropped her gaze from his as if submitting to his gentle reprimand and let her hand that was still nestled under his shirt, drift down over his belly and out of the shirt, coming to rest on his belt buckle. She held the bowed head position for several beats, aware that Daniel had gone completely still as if waiting. There was no way he would've bought her conceding to his warning quite that demurely. She knew that he knew she wasn't done yet. It was a struggle to keep the smirk off her face as she tilted her head up slightly, cast a seductive sideways glance at him from under her eyelashes and dropped her hand below his belt, firmly rubbing the heel of her hand along one side of his zipper. She watched the blue eyes darken further, heard his breath catch and felt the ridge inside his jeans harden. He grabbed her hand away from his crotch.

"Minx," he gritted.

She smirked at him and shrugged. "Well Daniel if you can't stand the heat stay out of the fire."

His face creased with amusement. "Uh that would be 'kitchen'…if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen'"

She didn't resist the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

With his hand still curved around her neck, he guided her forehead towards him and pressed a quick kiss there.  
"Okay, truce" he laughed, bending down to pick up the backpack sitting at his feet, "c'mon I could use your help with something

Vala watched him straighten, her gaze trailing up his body, lingering over flex of muscles, and breadth of shoulders..

"But darling," she said huskily, slowly letting her blue-grey eyes drift up the sensuous curve of his neck to lock with his intent blue gaze, "I believe I've already made that offer."

Heat arced between them. Vala couldn't look away. The intensity of his darkened eyes made it hard for her to breath.

"Not what I meant," he said tersely, obviously trying to rein in his own want, "and you know it. Now cool it, please."

She flashed smile and held out his glasses to him as if a peace offering. "Sorry darling, sometimes you're just too appealing for my own good I'm afraid."

Sliding the glasses back on, he shook his head as he turned to walk away.

She followed him, carefully stepping around or over lines of string fastened to wooden stakes that marked out the entire plaza area in a grid pattern. He stopped at the base of a crumbling wall overgrown with vines. Letting the backpack slide to the ground, he knelt before a length of plastic sheet about four feet long by three feet wide covering what a recently excavation.

He reached to remove the metal spikes that held the plastic in place.

"Uhh, I opened this test trench a couple of days ago, just for the pleasure of working it myself, but with everyone else needing my attention since then I haven't been able to do much with it. But since no one," he threw a quick glance over his shoulder at the half dozen small teams of people scattered across the plaza area behind them, "seems to be needing me at the moment. I thought I'd see what I can accomplish before lunch."

"And you," he paused to remove from the backpack a metal clipboard and his small digital camera, "can take the notes for me."

Vala stared at the enclosed clipboard filled with papers.

She shifted anxious eyes from the clipboard to Daniel.

She shook her head "Daniel, I haven't a clue how to do this. I don't want to screw anything up."

He tilted his head slightly to look up at her with an encouraging smile. He held out the clipboard out to her.

"Vala, you're not going to screw anything up. You've taken lots of 'in situ' photos for me before on missions and…"

" 'In situ'?" she interrupted in puzzlement.

He flashed a sheepish smile. "Uhh, sorry…jargon….umm…photos of how something is 'situated' in the ground before it's removed. And the," he gestured with the clipboard, "cataloguing forms just seem more complicated than what I normally use because this dig is bigger. Really, it'll be a piece a cake, I promise."

She took the clipboard hesitantly, easing herself to the ground beside him.

He gave her a smile and tapped the clipboard. "So these forms are the same ones the SGC uses; there's places for the date and the people involved. It's just the cataloguing reference numbers that are going to be more complicated because of the size of the project, but I'll give you what you need as we go along. Okay?

She took a breath and nodded.

He grinned and patted her knee. "Good girl. Now let's see what kind treasure we can find huh?"

Vala bit back a laugh as he rose to his knees to remove a trowel and a paintbrush from the extra belt fastened around his waist. His idea of treasure and her's were not quite the same. Hers involved things that promised a great monetary payoff. His were usually encrusted with dirt. It did prove though just how hopelessly in love with him she was willing to sit and watch him scrap and prod, with excruciating care, centuries old dirt and muck away from small pieces of what she would have tossed away as just rocks. She'd put up with just about anything to see his face light up. It was also just nice to sit beside him in the sun, watching him work and listening to his voice. It had been a busy summer. They'd never been able to reschedule the trip to Belize. Even before they'd officially left front-line duty, Daniel had become wrapped up in creating the new permanent 'dig' team and then organizing this project on Invernia. They hadn't spent much time alone. She figured the only thing that had prevented them from arguing all summer over how little time they'd been together was this approach to making babies. Knowing that there were really only two or three days a month when they had to be in the same bed kept her from getting angry that he was putting work before his family and kept him from feeling guilty if he needed to be off-world or ended up sleeping at the base. At first she'd been wary of how well the whole 'scheduling their sex life' was going to work out. She'd visited some of the Internet chatrooms geared to fertility issues and it had become obvious to her quickly that the biggest complaints had to do with it taking all the spontaneity out of sex…it became just a chore. So far that didn't seem to be a problem for them, perhaps because they hadn't been doing it long enough yet for it to become wearing. Or perhaps, she thought with soft smile, because, like with their entire relationship, she and Daniel just didn't do things like everyone else did.

"Whatta ya smiling about?"

Vala jerked her attention to Daniel who was holding out a piece of pottery to her.

"What?"

"I said, what are you smiling about?"

Taking the chunk of clay, she leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"Nothing really, I'm just glad you're you. You're very sexy and I love you."

"Oh," he blinked at her, pink flooded his face and he ducked his head quickly back to his work.

"So…uh…there," he stumbled, clearly flustered, "there doesn't seem to be much her...here worth pursuing."

Biting back a giggle, Vala busied herself with tucking the pottery fragment into a plastic bag and labeling it. He could be so much like a shy little boy sometimes, he was quite irresistible. His suddenly drawled, "Well, hello", caught her attention. She looked up to find him carefully clearing away the vines obscuring the wall. She rocked forward on her knees to see what had grabbed his interest.

"What is it?'

"Not sure yet," he murmured without looking at her, "it appears to be carvings of some sort. I was scraping the edge of the trench a little closer to the wall and accidentally pulled some of the vines down with the handle of my trowel. Uhh," he pointed at the vines covering the stones on the other side of her, "could you remove those."

She rose to her knees, stretching to tug the mat of vegetation away from what was left of the stone wall. When she couldn't reach any further, she sank back into her original cross-legged position to watch Daniel explore the surface of the rocks. His hands were splayed across them, questing fingers almost reading the carvings, like the blind-person she'd seen reading by touch alone. A shiver skittered up her spine. She could almost feel the friction of the work-scuffed tips of his fingers gliding across her skin, reading the curves and angles of her body with the same delicacy and reverence. Before she even realized what she was doing, her own fingers were skimming over his right hand; tracing the smooth tanned skin lightly flecked with a scattering of tiny silver scars from old injuries, brushing over the baby-fine blond hair dusted across the back of his hand and wrist. She turned his hand over, unmindful of his breath catching as she stroked her fingers across the weapon calluses that would drag against her skin when he grazed the palms of his hands across her breasts. Her nipples tightened in instant response to the imagined sensation.

"Vala," he almost growled near her ear, "stop. I can't stay focused, when you're doing this stuff."

She turned her head to him. His eyes were still hidden by the dark lenses, but she could read the tension on his face. He was clearly holding himself in rigid control. Static seemed to sizzle and hum between them for several beats. It felt almost impossible to break away from the magnetic pull towards each other.

The wail of an air horn blasted up from the encampment, warning the work teams they had 30 minutes to close up their work sites before the next meal was served.

Daniel dropped his head forward.

"Okay," he exhaled in a heavy sigh, "lunch.

He raised his head, throwing a quick glance at her.

"So we need to secure the site first."

She nodded, speechless. Even she was sometimes stunned by how quickly the heat between them could ignite. They worked in silence, stowing the several bags of samples from the trench along with the equipment in the backpack and fastening the length of plastic over the trench. Inside the thirty minutes they were making their way back across the plaza to the path that led down to the encampment.

An undercurrent of friction crackled between them all through lunch. They carried on conversations with everyone else around them, but said very little to each other. Vala spent most of the meal in state of uncertainty. She could feel the tension radiating off him and she was afraid she'd pushed the whole flirting thing too far. When he left the conversation they had been having with the others at their table with the excuse that after a late night and an early morning he was in need of some catch up sleep, she took a breath of relief. Excusing herself, she deposited her lunch dishes in the clean-up area and jogged after him. She followed him into the tent, pausing to close the zipper on the door flap. She had barely time to finish before his hands were on her shoulders, turning her around to face him.

"God, you make me crazy," he rasped, cupping both hands along each side of her face. His mouth was on hers, hungry and fevered before she could say anything. His fingers caressing the delicate skin behind her ears drew a soft moan from her. She moulded herself against him, threading her arms around his neck and her hands into his hair. Clearly the tension exuding from him during lunch had been barely suppressed lust, not aggravation. It was also clear from the way things were starting that they wouldn't be going slow. She smirked against his lips, musing about how best to cover up the marks on her neck she was sure to end up with by the time they were done. Musing distracted her. His tongue snaked into her slightly open mouth, sliding across her tongue like velvet. She let her mouth widen, sucking hard against his tongue as she pushed up on her tiptoes to grind her pelvis against his. He exhaled a heavy groan of want from the back of his throat and pushed her backwards to the bed, his hand trailing down the back curve of her neck, over her shoulders to pluck open the buttons of her shirt.

The edge of the mattress caught against the backs of her calves. She stopped and slowly sank to the bed's surface. He followed her movements, stooping to keep his mouth pressed hers, letting out a faint moan at the scrap of her teeth over his bottom lip as she pulled away from him. His eyes opened and his tongue darted across his lips. He stared at her, his eyes dark and hooded. Fire danced through Vala's veins making it hard to breath. She reached to undo his belt. He made an abrupt negative motion with his head, wrapping one hand around both her wrists to lift them away from his belt, while his other hand rose to flick open the front fastener of her bra. Without letting his gaze drop from hers, he pushed apart both sides her blouse and both cups of her bra, watching her react to the palm of his hand brushing repeatedly across the satin peak of her breast. The rough skin dragged over the nipple until it was rigid and almost quivering. She swallowed back a moan, mesmerized by the deep blue heat in his eyes. Silently, his hand still wrapped around hers, he motioned her backwards. She moved herself further back onto the mattress, watching as he leaned over her, his eyes tracking the sway of her breasts. He released her hands to push her blouse and her bra down and off her arms. His gaze never left her body. Slowly he lowered his head to suck a nipple into his mouth. She gasped at the hard bolt of heat that ricocheted down her body. She reached again for his belt, her fingers shaking with the urgency his mouth tugging and sucking at her breast had building between her legs. His mouth roaming from her nipple back up along her neck gave her a moment to focus. With a quick tug and shove, the belt and his zipper came undone. The heated musk of male arousal drifted to her, tightening the coil of need churning in her gut. She thrust her hands into his briefs, one hand pushing them and his jeans to his hips, the other hand wrapping around and stroking hard along his erection. He groaned against her neck, and began to move over her. She pushed at his briefs and jeans as he moved, managing to shove them off his hips and ass.

"Doctor Jackson?" the voice from the other side of the tent flap brought everything to an abrupt stop

Fighting to catch his breath, Daniel dropped his head forward, resting his forehead on her shoulder. The four letter word he hissed against her skin startled her. He had so many languages and dialects to swear with, she'd never heard him use that word before.

He sucked in another deep breath and cleared his throat. "Yes?"

"Sorry to disturb you sir, but Nyan requires your assistance with that wall."

Daniel raised his head from her shoulder and tilted a glance backward in the direction of the voice. "He said at lunch that he'd gotten it stabilized."

"Ah yes sir, he had thought that, but when he went back to it after lunch, it appeared to have worsened. He's afraid the whole thing is about to collapse."

"Shit," Daniel muttered, pushing himself up off the mattress, yanking up his briefs and jeans as he stood, "Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Vala propped herself up on her elbows, watching him tuck himself back into his jeans and fasten the zipper and belt. She made no move to reclaim her bra or her shirt. If work responsibilities were going to pull him away, she was going to make sure he had an eyeful of what he was leaving. Judging by the muscle tic along his jaw and the way his gaze was riveted on her, he wasn't going to be forgetting too soon where they'd left off. With one bent knee on the bed, he leaned over her.

"I'm sorry cara," he whispered, pressing a soft, loving kiss to her mouth, "I can't not go.

"I know," she replied blandly.

He touched her cheek with gentle fingers. "An early night tonight…I promise…and no interruptions…okay?"

She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

He sighed, pressing another soft kiss to her mouth. "I absolutely promise," he whispered against her lips.

She let out a long breath and faintly nodded.

"Love you." he said, brushing her forehead with a gentle kiss as he stood up.

She watched him leave. Blowing out a disgusted puff of air that made her dark hair flutter off her forehead, she slumped back on the bed.

So far: Work-2, the Jacksons' love life-0.


	22. Mid Sept 2010, con'td

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:**

Okay, the ending of the previous chapter. Again issuing a 'reader discretion' warning due to 'adult' content.

* * *

**Mid-Sept 2010**

She didn't see him again until halfway through the evening meal. He, Nyan and three of the Invernian men appeared, grimy and sweaty, in the mess tent together. He didn't seek her out to eat with. He simply grabbed what food was available, joined the other men at a table and wolfed down the food while continuing the conversation they'd been having when they walked into the tent.

She got up and strolled over to the serving line, picking up her only other cup of coffee for the day and a serving of a cake-like dessert made with a native fruit. She turned to go back to her seat, throwing a quick look in Daniel's direction. He was completely engrossed in conversation. She doubted that he'd even glanced at her. She chastised herself as she nibbled at the dessert. This was silly. She was acting like she was back in school trying to get a boy she liked to notice her, instead of a grown woman married to a man who was passionately in love with her. She had no need to flaunt herself to him in front of others. He didn't particularly like it when she did. He'd promised they would have an early night and for the most part he kept his promises. He'd been making an extra effort since they had embarked on baby-making by the numbers. Still there was that Earth saying about men planning things with rodents. Vala scowled into her coffee, puzzling over why men would be making plans with rodents in the first place.

The sound of Daniel's voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to him taking his customary seat on the edge of one of the now-cleared serving tables, a steaming mug of coffee cradled in his hands, about to convene an end-of-the-day staff meeting of sorts; a chance for all those involved in the dig to talk about the day, what had been accomplished, what problems had arisen and to make plans for the following day.

"So I hope everyone has had a good day. Uhh…as you can see," he grimaced, gesturing at the dirt-streaked state of his clothes, "I had a messy day. And to my wife," he shifted his gaze directly to hers without having to look for her.

Her heart jumped a beat…apparently he had known exactly where she was the whole time. She smiled brightly.

His own mouth curved into a smile. "Yes, I am planning on taking a shower before bed."

"I should hope so darling." she beamed at him.

Soft laughter passed over the gathering.

"Personally m'dear," Broca's husky murmur came from directly beside her, "I'd have no objection to a sweaty man in my bed."

Vala glanced sideways at the older woman and smirked. "Only as long as I'm the one making him sweaty."

Broca's brown eyes glinted knowingly. "And I'm sure ye're good at makin' him sweat."

Vala replied with a wink and throaty laugh.

She loved Samantha like a sister, but making any suggestive comments like that to her about her 'brother' got Samantha wrinkling her nose in distaste and claiming "way too much information". It was amusing and somehow freeing to be able to make appreciative, if not borderline ribald comments about her husband to another woman.

Daniel's voice once again broke into her thoughts.

She met his questioning blue eyes.

"Sorry," she grimaced sheepishly, "just gathering wool I guess. What did you ask?"

There was a scattering of snickers from the SGC people who knew her tendency to mess up Earth expressions and Daniel couldn't quite keep his mouth from twitching with amusement, but he didn't call her on the mis-worded phrase.

"I was asking about the tiles you've been working on. You said this morning that you were having problems with a few. Did you figure them out?"

"Oh yes," she said brightly, "Well, one of them anyway, but the others are still eluding me. I do seem to recall though you offering to take a look at them."

His brow creased briefly. "Uhh yeah, I did, didn't I? Umm..okay, "he nodded, "when we're done here all right?"

Nodding in agreement, she let her attention drift from the further discussions that she didn't really understand for the most part, back to the lunch time tryst that had been interrupted. That had been annoying to say the least. Bitching about it though, she knew would have been a waste of time. It would have only resulted in an argument. Which would of meant that instead of being pissed off at their lovemaking being interrupted, he would have been pissed off at her. That would have called for major damage control on her part to get him anywhere close to being interested in picking up where they left off. His gaze certainly wouldn't have been drifting over her like it was at that precise moment, while several of the Invernians were having a heated discussion in their own language. The direction of his thoughts behind those clear blue eyes unmistakable.

"So," he said raising his eyes from hers back to the ensemble as the Invernian's disagreement subsided, "the only other item was the wall in the far west corner of the plaza that had to be taken apart this afternoon. Uhh Broca," he threw a glance towards the Invernian woman beside Vala, "could you and Emma coordinate with Nyan in the morning to have the blocks brought down from the plateau?"

Vala caught Broca's nod of agreement from the corner of her eye.

"Good," Daniel slid off the table, "okay, so unless anyone else has something they, uuhh, need brought up I'd say we're done here," he paused, waiting for a response.

He nodded with a smile after a moment's silence. "Great. Then have a good night everyone and we'll see you all in the morning."

"Oh yeah, one other thing," he added suddenly, raising his voice a little to be heard over the noise of group beginning to break up, "once I've cleaned up, I will be turning in for the night. If anyone has something they feel they need to discuss with me, I'd appreciate if you could leave it until the morning."

There was a moment's silence while everyone registered that request and then the din of people chatting, benches being moved and the last of the dishes being cleaned up took over. Exchanging quick 'good nights' with the others at her table and receiving a knowing wink from Broca, Vala picked up her dishes and headed in the direction of the clean-up area. Even before she got there she suspected that Daniel wouldn't be getting away from the mess tent quite as quickly he intended. He was still standing beside the table he'd been sitting on, his arms folded across his chest, engaged again in conversation with Nyan, Iiad and two other Invernian men. His gaze lifted away from the discussion briefly to meet hers over Iiad's shoulder. The corners of Daniel's mouth tilted into a faint sheepish grimace and he shrugged. She raised a questioningly eyebrow. Very quickly he lifted one hand off his bicep to flash the five fingers at her, twice. Nodding, she walked out of the mess tent into the early Invernian twilight.

She sensed his presence in the cataloguing tent awhile later even before his arms wound around her waist. Leaning to one side, she tilted her gaze up to his.

"Wow, I'm impressed," she smirked, "you actually got away inside the ten minutes."

"What can I say," he murmured, sweeping her hair off her shoulder to nuzzle at her neck, "you're a powerful lure."

His lips on her skin ended anything she had intended to say about the painted tiles on the table in front of her. She leaned back into his arms, rolling her neck to guide his attention down to her shoulders.

"Daniel," she sighed with pleasure, "you weren't really planning on looking at these tiles right now were you?"

"Nope," he breathed, lightly catching her earlobe between his lips, "and I can't believe you seriously thought I was going to."

She turned in his embrace, looping her arms around his neck. "Then why are we here because I'm fairly certain you don't actually intend on us making out here."

"Oh I intend on us making out," he said silkily, mapping the curves of her hips and ass with his hands, "but yes, you are right, definitely not here. I'm going to get cleaned up, as promised, but our tent in about half an hour would be good. Okay?" he finished in a whisper, cupping her face in his hands to press a slow, caressing kiss to her mouth.

He was already ensconced in bed, freshly showered and shaven, the pillows piled up behind him, writing in his journal, when she ducked into their tent. It took her only a moment to tie down the outside storm flaps and close the zipper. When she turned back around he'd put away his journal and had moved to lying on his side, propped up on his elbow. His eyes were intent and focused solely on her. A tingle of anticipation slid up her spine. When it came to sex, he was just as visually oriented as other males. She figured it wasn't going to take much visual stimulation to bring the heat that had been fizzling between them since lunch, roaring back to life. Biting back a smug, seductive smile, she demurely dropped her gaze from his, caught her lower lip between her teeth and reached up under her shirt to twist open the front clip of her bra. It made a sharp 'snick' sound in the silence. She raised her eyes back to his then, and made an obvious deliberate show of sliding each strap off her arms. Lowering her gaze again, she twisted and bent her body to maneuver the bra off without removing or unbuttoning her shirt, letting the tightening of the material disclose the shape of her curves. She raised her head, locked her gaze with his, slowly tugged the bra out of one shirt sleeve and dropped it to the floor. In the bed, Daniel, his eyes hooded and tracking her every move, was as still as a statue. Vala pressed her lips together to keep a smirk from spreading across her mouth. If she knew her husband's libido, not only was he as still as a statue, he was probably almost as hard as one too. Subtlety and suggestion that plugged into his thought processes would get him before anything blatant would. With that in mind she walked towards the bed, reaching down while she moved, to pop open the fastener on her shorts. Slowly they slid down her legs as she crossed the space to the bed. They hit the floor just before she got there. Delicately stepping out of them brought her to the edge of the mattress. She watched with satisfaction as Daniel's tongue flicked across his lips. She loved that she had this effect on him. That she was the one he wanted. That she was the only one who got this quiet, in-control, scholarly man to give into his physical needs.

Before she had a chance to do or say anything else he was on his knees, reaching for her. In one quick movement her bikini underwear was slipping down her legs to the floor and his hand was gliding through the soft cluster between her legs to touch her. A lazy hum of pleasure whispered out of her mouth as she tilted her hips trying to get his touch to go deeper. She almost whimpered when he pulled his hand away to unfasten her shirt, from the bottom upwards. When he reached the top button he slid his hands up under each side of the shirt and pushed it off her shoulders.

"God," he breathed, his eyes following the gentle caress of his hands over her entire body, "you are just so beautiful. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all day."

His hands curled around her waist. "Come here," he rasped, pulling her down to the bed with him.

She followed him down to the mattress, stretching out full length on her side, facing him. His hands cupped around her ass moulded her against him. Her eyes closing in ecstasy, Vala nestled into him, slinging one leg over his hips, her hands skimming across the sculpted muscles of his shoulders and back. This was one of her favourite moments. When she got to feel every curve, every angle of his naked body pressed to hers. Without opening her eyes, she tilted her head upwards to meet his mouth. Teasing, hit-and-run caresses with nipping teeth, slowed and deepened to the velvet stroke of tongues.

Vala pulled away with a gasp. His hand had drifted over the curve of her ass and up the inside of the leg she had hitched over his hips,

"Daniel," she hissed, trying to twist from the glide of his fingers over and around the slick folds of flesh between her legs.

"Hmmmm?"

She caught the edge of faux innocence in his tone. She cracked an eye open. He was watching her, a barely suppressed smug smirk twitching at his mouth.

"You need to stop." she trembled when the rough tip of his finger skidded over the tiny, swollen nub of flesh under it.

"Oh?" he replied, dipping his head to nibble at her neck, "you're not liking this?"

She opened her mouth to respond. The only thing that came out was a soft groan as he applied a maddening touch and go rhythm of circling and stroking.

" 'm going too fast." she murmured, her hips shifting to chase the motion of his fingers.

"What?" he chuckled, trailing light sucking kisses down her throat, "you don't wanna go around more than once?"

For a moment the only noise she could make was low keening from the back of her throat at his finger curling into her. She writhed against him, blindly reaching to wrap her hand around him

"No," she finally managed huskily, stroking her hand along his satiny, hard shaft.

The motion of his fingers stuttered and paused.

"Just want you." she pressed her free hand against his shoulder nudging him towards flipping onto his back.

The quickening of her hand on his erection brought a soft moan from the back of his throat, but he resisted her attempt to take control. Instead his hand curved around her leg to push it off his hip onto the mattress. She couldn't stop the momentum of the movement from making her shift onto her back. She eyed him, rising over her, the faint flush of arousal barely noticeable under his tan, his biceps and shoulders taut with the effort of holding himself poised over her. She licked her lips. He really was magnificent. She loved seeing him like this; wholly aroused, needing her, wanting this. She wanted this too. Playtime was over. She trailed her hands up the solid curves of his arms, around his neck and into his hair Levering herself up to suck along the sensuous curve of his throat. she wrapped her legs across his narrow hips, pressing her heels against his ass to nudge him up into the cradle of her pelvis. Moaning at the hard rub of her tongue on his neck, he pushed forward. Heavy groans of bliss rolled out of their mouths as he sank into her.

"Ohh Daniel" she murmured heavily against his shoulder as he began a slow rhythm of push and pull, "been wanting this all day."

"Yeah….got….that," came out as a ragged punctuation of each thrust.

She tilted her pelvis to meet the grind of his hips against her own, groaning at the burn coiling between her legs,. His head dipped to her breasts, his tongue laving across one nipple, then the other before finally sucking one in against the roof of his mouth and flicking his tongue across it. Heat sizzled through her. Her whole body arched up against his, the fierce shove of his hips bringing her to a knife's edge.

"Please," she panted, nipping at his ear, "Daniel…please..."

His head shifted away from her breasts. Hot, jagged breath grazed a path of wet, open kisses up her throat, before mouth and teeth sucked in the delicate skin of her neck. Liquid fire roared through her veins. She came hard, shuddering against him.

"Ohh…Daniel…love you." she breathed into his shoulder, shivering with waves of aftershocks, triggered by his fast, hard, thrusts.

Slowly she loosened the grip she had on his shoulders, easing onto her back while she watched him lose control. Blue eyes shuttered tight, the soft, sensual mouth parted to draw in air, his brow furrowed in concentration as he reached to satisfy himself. Leaning up she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth. For a split-second his entire body froze in motion. She nipped at the full, soft inner flesh. A guttural sound of need seemed to come from deep within him, then his hips jerked hard into her. Trembling, he shattered around her, groaning her name into her mouth, his body pulsing and spasming deep inside her. She released him, gently soothing with a stroke of her tongue, the spot she'd nipped at. His eyelids lifted. Blue eyes, dark and hazy with orgasm, regarded her. A tender, lazy, smile spread across his mouth.

"Love you," he whispered almost soundlessly.

The soft, blatant adoration on his face brought a wash of tears to her eyes. Blinking them away, she reached up, pressing a tender kiss to his mouth. He ended the kiss a moment later, mumbling an apology about his arms being ready to give out. Gently easing off her to one side, he snuggled in against her, one arm draped across her stomach, one leg tucked in between hers. She moved to face him. His leg tightened across her hip stopping her.

"Should prob'ly stay on your back for 'while," he murmured against her hair, " 'member Carolyn thought keepin' 'me' in contact with 'you' as long as possible might help. Gravity's gonna mess with that if you start movin' around too soon."

Vala turned her head to look at him. She saw a faint, smirk suddenly turn up the corners of his mouth.

"What's that smile for?" she whispered, tracing his bottom lip with a fingertip.

He opened one eye, the eyebrow arching up in disbelief.

"Well you know, other than the fact that I'm an amazing lover." she said, smirking and blushing all at the same time.

Daniel closed his eye again and shook his head with a light snort of amusement. "You're unbeliev'ble."

"Yes I know that darling," she beamed, "but seriously what were you smiling about."

"Seri'sly?" he said softly, propping himself up on his elbow and brushing a lock of dark hair back from her face, "seri'sly, I was thinkin' 'bout a little girl looking just like her mommy and prob'bly driving' me equally as," he paused, the corners of his mouth lifting just enough to make a dimple flash, "wonko."

Genuine delight bubbled up inside her. She grinned at him.

"Mmm, I was thinking more along the lines of a little boy with his daddy's eyes."

Daniel snorted a wry laugh.

"Wouldn't wish my eyesight on my wors' enemy let 'lone my son."

His gaze centred on her at that.

"My son." he whispered.

The wonder and tenderness in his eyes made her heart expand with joy.

Blinking rapidly back a fresh flood of moisture in her eyes she gave him a bright smile and huffed a soft laugh.

"I wasn't talking about your eyesight darling. I meant that amazing shade of blue. I'm sure all the girls you went to school with were swooning over them."

Shaking his head, Daniel unbent his elbow and laid his head back down on the pillow.

"Uhh..no," he yawned, closing his eyes, "not even close."

"Well if I had gone to school with you I would've been." she shifted her upper body closer to press a soft kiss to his cheek."

His eyes slitted open. "No…you woulda been ga-ga over the star athletes, just like all the other girls were," his free arm curled around her waist, bringing her to nestle in against his chest as he shifted onto his back, " gotta 'member too, las' time I was in school with my own age group I was fifteen. On'ly swooning goin' on when I was fifteen was me…over Kate Jackson."

Vala raised her head off his chest, looking at him with tilted eyebrow.

"Lusting after a relative Daniel? How very…unexpected of you."

He exhaled a small chuckle. "Not rel'tive, Jus' an actress."

"Oh, so no one I have reason to be jealous of then."

"No reason to be jealous of anyone sweet'eart," he murmured, tightening his arm around her, the drowsy post-coital slur of his speech was deepening, "been my on'ly fantasy for 'while now."

Vala pushed herself up enough to watch him drift into sleep, smoothing out with feather light fingertips the familiar creases of thought and worry on his face. Her touch drew breathy sigh of contentment from him. She smiled, a wave of gratitude and love filled her eyes with tears. He'd given her so much more of a life than she should've ever deserved. A baby boy with blue eyes was the only gift she could ever offer that would come even close to giving back to him.


	23. December 2010

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: So this takes place at Christmas. That means that Vala's had a b-day, which makes her 39.

I've attempted to recreate some images from Unending here. I'd love to know if I've succeeded.

Oh I'm issuing a 'reader discretion' warning too...I wasn't originally intending on the final scene taking the route that it did, but a certain reader felt that there had been enough 'mature' scenes between DV that had been interuppted.

As always...anything you wanna say, I wanna hear.

Enjoy

***********************************************

**Christmas Day, 2010**

He caught sight of her when he emerged from the bathroom. She was examining her reflection in the dresser mirror. Dropping his towel on the bed, he padded across the room to stand behind her. He laid his hand on hers' as she was smoothing it over her stomach.

"You know you keep doing that you're gonna rub a layer of skin off."

She shot a glance at his image in the mirror. She smiled happily, tilting her head to one side and studying their hands on her stomach.

"Not really showing yet am I?"

"No, sorry, not really," he paused, sliding his hand up to cup the soft, weight of her breast, "I can tell though."

She leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Too sensitive," she murmured after only a moment, moving his hand back to where it had laid on her own moments before.

He pressed a kissed to her temple. "Sorry."

She smiled without opening her eyes. "S'alright. If I remember right in another month or so your touch will have an entirely different affect."

He smirked, bending his head to place soft kisses along the curve of her neck from behind her ear to her shoulder.

"So you're saying you're going to be insatiable again?"

She giggled. "Pretty much."

"Looking forward to it," he murmured, nuzzling against her neck.

Burying his face in her damp hair to breath in the faint vanilla scent of her shampoo and soap, he savoured the quiet joy in the moment. Everything in their history they had overcome culminated here, at this point of being on the verge of having what they had both been missing for most of their lives. Home. Family. Safety. Belonging.

The doorbell rang.

With a soft sound of disappointment, Vala turned sliding a caressing hand over his bare chest.

"That'll be Cameron. Could you let him in? I don't think it'd be proper for me to be greeting him wearing just this."

Daniel let his eyes skim over her. The forest green satin robe that barely reached the tops of her legs usually had an immediate affect on him. Today was no exception since besides being completely naked under it, she was also 3 months pregnant.

He dropped his gaze to his semi-hard state. "Not sure I'm presentable either."

"Pfft," she said with a dismissive wave of fingers. "You pull on track pants and you'll be fine by the time you get downstairs and even if you aren't it's not going to bother Cameron."

He raised an eyebrow. "No, but it'll bother me."

The doorbell rang again.

Vala looked up at him with wide eyes and a slight pout.

"Please Daniel, we wouldn't want to make him wait in the December cold for me to get completely dressed would we?"

He shook his head at her with an indulgent smile. "When exactly was it you wound me around your finger?"

Her mouth curved into a seductive, knowing smirk.

"Umm…Prometheus?" she purred, drawing a teasing fingertip along his bottom lip.

He snorted a wry laugh. "Yeah, sadly, that sounds about right. Fine," he sighed, bending to pick up his track pants and t-shirt from where he had dropped them beside the bed the night before, "but only because I wouldn't make anyone wait in the December cold for anything.

A blast of cold air hit him full force when he pulled the front door open. He shuddered.

"Mornin' Jackson," Cameron Mitchell bleated cheerfully, "Merry Christmas!"

Daniel nodded mutely, stepping back from the doorway and gesturing for his friend to step inside.

"Morning Mitchell. Merry Christmas to you too," he finally replied shutting the door on the frosty December air.

"How are you?" he continued, holding out his hand to take Mitchell's heavy sheepskin coat.

"Ahh, I'm good. Just got back from P14-9X6 yesterday so I'm little tired, but mostly I'm good." he handed a small binder to Daniel as he bent to undo the laces of his boots.

"Well, then I appreciate you coming over this early to help Vala out. I really think she's bitten off more than she can chew by offering to cook Christmas dinner for everyone."

"No problem," Cam straightened, shooting a quick smile at the archeologist, "it's for mostly selfish reasons. I figure if I'm not gonna get home for my Mom's turkey dinner then I'm sure as hell gonna make sure the dinner I do get will be as close to her's as possible."

"Good plan," Daniel chuckled, gesturing to the heavily decorated Christmas tree just visible to the left of the entry into the family room, "If you wanna deposit your stuff there, I'll take this into the kitchen," he paused to glance at the binder Cam had handed him, "whatever this is."

Cam grinned and patted the binder. "This, my friend, is my game plan for the day…all the instructions and recipes my Mom thought I'd need, includin' most importantly, the recipe for my Grandma's sausage and cornbread stuffin'."

"Wow," Daniel mused, "I'm hungry just thinking about that."

"Which reminds me," he said suddenly turning in the direction of the kitchen, "Coffee should be ready and I'll dig out the stuff we bought at Moyer's Bakery yesterday."

"Sounds good," Cam moved in the direction of the family room, scooping up the two large bags of gifts sitting by his feet, "leave mine black."

"Yup," Daniel acknowledged from the kitchen.

"Hey," Cam's voice came from the family room a few moments later, "isn't this is the fake tree you bought last year?"

"Uhh, yeah it is. Why?" Daniel replied, licking off his thumb a smear of icing from the cinnamon rolls he'd just deposited on a plate.

"I thought …uhh…," Cam hesitated, as if using a more familiar form of address was still awkward, "Jack was insisting on helpin' ya find a real tree."

"Oh he did, but remember how Vala said she inherited a few food allergies from Jacek?"

"Uhh yeah," came Cam's hesitant reply from the family room, So?'

"Well turns out, here on Earth, one of those allergies translates into an extreme sensitivity to pine sap."

Daniel slid the carafe back into the coffeemaker. "'Bout half an hour into decorating the real tree last Sunday, she was covered in very angry, very red hives."

With Cam's mug of coffee in hand, Daniel took the few quick steps from the kitchen across a corner of the foyer into the family room. He handed the mug to Cameron.

"We spent most of Sunday afternoon in the infirmary establishing that it was just the pine sap she was reacting to."

Cam smothered a laugh as he sipped at the coffee. "So ya hadda go back to the fake one."

Daniel nodded, folding his arms across his chest. "Yeah. So after getting her settled in a warm bath to ease the itching, I had to take everything off the real tree, ditch it in the backyard, then set this one up and decorate it."

Shaking his head, Daniel stared unseeing at the tree. "Wasn't quite the way I had envisoned spending the evening. Although, "he shrugged, a faint smirk pulling at his mouth, "there's something to be said for having to coat one's wife with calamine lotion."

Cameron managed to not choke on his coffee.

"Anyway," Daniel said suddenly, moving in the direction of the stairs, "I'll go find Vala. She was getting dressed when I came down to let you in so I don't know what's keeping her."

"Help yourself to the stuff on the kitchen table if you're hungry," he called back over his shoulder as he took the stairs two at a time.

There was no sound from any other room on the second floor, nor was there any sign of her in their bedroom.

"Vala?" he said loudly walking through the room to the ensuite bathroom. He swung the door open and immediately caught the sounds of movement coming from the walk-in closet. He pushed the closet's pocket doors open completely. His heart jumped into his throat at the sight of his wife standing on one of the dressing room chairs, reaching for something on the top shelf that ran around the perimeter of the closet.

"Vala!" he hissed in alarm, striding over to her, "what the hell are you doing? Get down."

She turned her head to peer down at him. "Oh hallo darling. I was trying to find that DVD Muscles gave us as a wedding present," she turned her attention back to perusing the items on the shelf, "This is the first Christmas since our wedding that we've all been together and I thought it'd be fun to watch while we're all here. "

"Yes, okay, it would be, but you…you should've asked me to find it. Now get down please before you fall."

Vala turned her gaze back to him, with faint disbelief. "Daniel, stop fussing. I'm not going to fall. I'm fine."

He scowled at her "Vala, ju…just humour me please?

Vala stared at him a moment, then huffing a sigh, she turned towards him. "Very well."

"Thank you." he said as she put her hands on his shoulders.

He curled his hands around her waist and lifted her easily to the floor. Ever-present physical awareness of the other pulsed between them. Vala draped her arms completely around his neck and leaned into him.

"I guess Cameron would be waiting on me huh?" she murmured, her fingers combing up through his hair.

"Uhh, yeah…he would be," Daniel murmured back, sliding his hands up between her black sweater and the satin robe to caress her back and shoulders.

"We should go then." she whispered, tilting her mouth up towards his.

"Umm...yeah…we should," he agreed, lowering his head to catch the lush temptation of her mouth with his.

The ringing of the doorbell ended the slow, deep kiss.

"And now we really do have to go." Daniel said softly, resting his forehead against hers.

"After, " she tapped her finger against his chest, "you find the DVD."

"Vala, we can't leave the others out in the cold while I look for that disc."

She tilted her head to one side, listening. The sound of voices and activity floated up from the foyer.

A smile spread across her face. "We're not darling. Cameron has let them in."

She physically turned him in the direction of the chair. "Please Daniel."

Shaking his head he stepped up onto the chair, breathing a word of hope that it would support his weight.

He scanned the array of boxes and bags spread along the shelf in front of him. He threw a quick glance down at her.

"Any idea where it is?"

"Yes, it's in a shoebox along with the cards that were attached to our presents."

Nodding, he moved a few boxes and a bag, finally locating the shoebox at the very back of the shelf. He reached and flipped the lid off. The unmarked silver, metallic disc inside the plastic case was the first thing he saw. Removing it from the shoebox he slid the top back on and pushed the other boxes and bag to their original positions. He turned slightly to hand the DVD to Vala and took the step off the chair.

"OW! Shit!" shot out of his mouth at the same instant he sat down heavily on the chair.

Vala jerked towards him in fright. "Daniel!?

He waved a calming hand at her as he reached with the other hand to rub at his calf.. "I'm okay. My knee just sorta seized there for a second," he paused, stretching out his leg and flexing it, "some kinda muscle cramp or pinched nerve maybe…it's fine now."

She heaved a sigh of relief. "And you were concerned that I would fall."

He gave her a sour look, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue.

"Funny," he said pushing himself to his feet, "Now are we done here? Can we go?"

"Yes, we are. Thank you." she went up on tiptoe to place a soft kiss on his cheek."

"Yeah, you're welcome," he responded a little testily, curling his arm around her waist to hold her in place.

He fixed her with intent blue eyes over the top of his glasses "Promise me I won't see you trying anything like this," he waved back towards the chair, "again today. You need something, you ask for help. And I don't want you overdoing it either. You should take a rest this afternoon."

"Daniel," she sighed in exasperation, "stop…"

"No Vala, I won't. We've barely made it to three months, you still need to go easy. Now promise me please."

She sighed again. "Fine."

"Thank you." he said softly, taking her face in his hands, "I'm sorry if I'm being over protective but I need to know you're both safe."

She laid a hand over his on her cheek and smiled. "Yes my darling, I understand and I love you for it, but since I've now agreed to not overdo it today, could you promise to fuss a little less?"

He scowled slightly, his lips pressed into a thin, thoughtful line. She'd been so uncharacteristically careful and quiet since the pregnancy had been confirmed that he'd found himself missing her usually energetic spirit. He just didn't have the heart to completely dampen her spirits for the day. All he could do was keep an unobtrusive eye on her and gently rein her in from time to time. Reluctantly he nodded.

"Thank you," she said reaching up to give him a quick peck on the lips, "Now I'm going because I am in desperate need of food and you," she poked a finger at his chest, "need to get dressed properly."

He watched her flit out of the closet. Heaving a resigned sigh he turned to find clothes. It only took him a few minutes to pull on clean jeans and black long-sleeved t-shirt. He was halfway out of the bedroom when he remembered the gift that he still had hidden in his side of the closet. With a rectangular box wrapped in brilliant red Christmas paper, retrieved and tucked securely under his arm, he took the stairs down to join the gathering of his family.

**Late afternoon, Christmas Day**

Cam popped a piece of moist turkey and crisp skin into his mouth, closing his eyes in bliss as he swallowed. He opened his eyes again and grinned.

"Very nice Mrs. Jackson. My Mom would be proud."

Vala beamed with delight. "Why thank you Cameron, that is high praise indeed. And I'll be sure to tell her what an excellent tutor you were. Now have we forgotten anything?"

She nibbled at the edge of her thumb as she studied the dining table spread with plates, wine glasses, cutlery and enough food to feed several SG teams instead of just seven people.

Cam patted her shoulder. "Doesn't look like it to me, but while you're trying to decide I'm gonna round up everyone else so's we can eat before anything gets cold."

Vala nodded absently, still studying the table for any missing items. It took her a moment to notice the lack of dinner rolls. She turned quickly towards the kitchen to get them. Everything around her tilted for a moment. She grabbed for the back of chair. Daniel's hands closed around her waist at the same instant.

"You okay?" he said softly against her ear.

She cast a backwards glance up at him and gave him an over-compensating smile. "Yes Daniel. I'm fine."  
Raising an eyebrow he took in the flush on her face. "Hmm…yeah ya know…I'm not so sure. I think you should take break."

She tried to squirm out of his grasp. "Daniel, I'm fine. I'll sit in a few minutes. I was just going back to the kitchen for the basket of rolls."

"Vala," having kept her from escaping his clasp, he settled her on his lap as he took a seat on the closest chair, "just relax wouldja. Whatever you've forgotten can wait until after we told the others about the baby doncha think?"

Her head tilted as she studied him. He knew that she knew he was scamming her slightly. Suggesting that now was the perfect moment to tell the others about the baby was a handy excuse to get her to be still for several minutes. He wasn't very good at conning her into things, she usually saw through his efforts pretty easily.

"Okay," she finally nodded.

Wrapping his arm around her waist, he gave her a quick squeeze and leaned in to press a light kiss to her temple.

"Ya know Daniel," Jack O'Neill's sardonic drawl came from behind him before he could say anything else to her, " if you 'd told us ya didn't have enough chairs," Jack gestured at how they were sitting as he slid into a chair on the other side of the table from them, "we coulda brought our own from home."

Daniel grimaced at his best friend. "Funny Jack. We're just sitting like this because we were talking."

"Oh God," Sam groaned in amusement, taking the chair beside Jack "are they necking again?"

Jack turned a confused look to her. "Huh, what? Necking?"

"Oh yeah," Sam nodded with a blossoming smirk, "every time I see them sitting like that, Daniel tries to tell me they're just talking when it's perfectly obvious that what they're really doing is necking."

Jack's brown eyes gleamed with mirth. "Ewwww…," he scrunched up his face in an expression of distaste, "Daniel necking? Wait…does he even know how?"

"Oh ha, ha," Daniel scowled, ignoring the guffaws of laughter from the rest of the group claiming seats around the table, "you two are hilarious. Maybe you should think about taking this act on the road?"

"Nah," Jack grinned at him, "it just wouldn't work without you there to harass."

Another wave of laughter passed around the group.

"Anyhow," Daniel pointedly cut across the merriment, "before we start filling our faces I'd appreciate a moment to say something."

"Aww Jackson," Cam groaned, "can't it wait…food's getting' cold."

Daniel pinned Cam with sharp blue eyes. "Yeah, it prob'bly can, but with all the stuff we've been snackin' on all afternoon it isn't like we're going to die of starvation in the next few minutes now is it?"

There were long-suffering sighs of acquiescence from several people but no one voiced another objection.

"Thank you," Daniel said gratefully, "now first of all…uhh Cass," he cast his gaze to the group's surrogate daughter, "in the cabinet behind you there's a gift. Could you hand it to me please?"

There were puzzled glances shared around the table while Cassandra took the package from its hiding spot and handed it to him.

"Thank you," Daniel accepted with a smile.

"Jackson," Cam piped in a little impatiently, "thought we'd finished opening gifts this mornin'?"

Daniel nodded, "Uhh...yeah…we did, but this," he brought his hand out from around Vala's waist to present the box to her with both hands, "is a special gift for Vala."

Faintly puzzled blue-grey eyes swung to meet his. With a slight tilt of his eyebrows he gestured at the box. She shrugged and lifted the lid. Her eyes went wide.

"Oh Daniel," she sighed softly, touching the brilliant red contents of the box with sensuous pleasure, "it's beautiful. This is the one I was looking at isn't it?"

She turned a radiant smile on him.

He nodded, returning the smile. "It is."

"Jackson," Cam griped in disbelief, "it's a sweater. You delayed our enjoyment of this feast your wife and I slaved over all afternoon for a sweater?"

"I did," Daniel agreed, reluctantly dragging his attention away from the glow of love in Vala's eyes to the other five sets of eyes waiting for an explanation.

"But," he paused to clear his throat and focus completely on the group of people before him, who, up until two months previously, he had considered the closest he would truly have to a family, "this is uhh…a pretty special sweater. Vala's never had one like this before."

"See I…I," he stumbled, suddenly feeling inexplicably hesitant, as if sharing this news would be tempting luck, "I bought it at a place …umm…on Briargate Dr. called Motherhood."

The group erupted into a cacophony of applause, whoops and shrieks of delight and questions.

"Now _that _was an acceptable reason for delaying dinner," Cam beamed, leaning over from the chair beside them to press a kiss to Vala's cheek.

"Congratulations little momma," he grinned at her as he sat back in his chair.

"And I think a reason for a toast," Jack announced gesturing at the expectant parents with his wineglass.

The chatter and laughter died as the other four mirrored his actions. After what felt like a lengthy pause while Jack studied them, his expression suddenly sober, he finally broke the silence.

"We've all seen more death and destruction that anyone should," he said quietly, tilting his wineglass in their direction, "thanks for reminding us about new life."

Amidst the faintly voiced 'hear, hear's and the clinking of glasses, Daniel turned his gaze to Vala's. Smiling softly at the moisture in her blue-grey eyes he laid his hand along the side of her face to brush away with his thumb the single tear that trickled down her cheek.

"Do you know how much I love you, "he whispered, "you make me very happy."

Her mouth twisted into an odd tight-lipped kind of smirk. He smiled again, recognizing the expression as her desperate attempt to keep the tears shimmering in her eyes from cascading down her face. He gazed at her, lost in the trust and tenderness in her eyes.

The sudden brilliance of a camera flash blindsided him. He swung his attention to the direction of the light. A second flash killed, on his lips, the expletive of protest he was about to aim at Sam. Blinking rapidly to clear the black spots dancing in his vision he watched a patently 'Jack O'Neill ' smirk slowly turning up the corners of his younger sister's mouth.

"So apparently you were wrong Jack," Sam said casually, putting her camera on the table.

"Huh,? I was?" Jack asked in confused innocence, "'bout what?

"Earlier….when you wondered about Daniel knowing how to neck."

"Oh right…yes well you know," Jack replied airily but obviously still trying to figure out what Sam was getting at, "I have been known to be wrong on occasion…rarely mind you but it has happened."

"Right," Sam's gaze turned to her husband while she patted him briefly on the arm before bringing her increasingly evil smirk back to Daniel, "and this was one of those rare occasions because clearly he not only knows how to neck, he has sex too."

**Midnight Christmas Day**

Daniel gazed through barely open eyes at the dying embers in the fireplace. He didn't even try to hold back a jaw-cracking yawn. It had been a long day. A "most pleasant day" as Teal'c had commented when he made his departure an hour earlier, but a long one nonetheless. Their bed, with the 500-hundred count Egyptian cotton sheets, was calling. The tough part was going to be persuading himself to move. At the moment he was quite comfortable in his current haven on the couch with Vala nestled down in his arms, her back pressed against his chest. He leaned his forehead against the back of her head and took in a soft breath, filling himself with the faint vanilla scent of her shampoo, vague aromatic suggestions of the meal she'd prepared and her particular warm exotic tang that spoke to him of home. He had mused, in recent idle moments like these, if her pregnancy had caused little shifts in her natural scent or whether he was imaging things. He did know he wasn't imagining the changes in the rest of her body. Every inch of her had become addictively soft. If he was within arms reach of her, he almost couldn't stop himself from touching her. Especially the only-noticeable-to-him-yet rounding of her stomach. Slipping his hand inside the waistband of the sweat pants she had worn for comfort for the day, he spread his hand over the faint swelling. Just the idea, that after enduring other beings using her body for their own purposes, she truly loved him enough to give her body over to the care and nurturing of his child filled him with awe and amazement. Softly he moved his hand, his fingers delicately tracing the outline of the swelling.

She snuggled deeper into his arms, exhaling a husky hum of pleasure. That sound was the only encouragement he ever needed. He eased his hand past the waistband of her panties to cup his palm over the mound of softness between her legs. She murmured again, shifted enough to allow his fingers to slid deeper into her and rubbed her bottom into his groin. The lush, slick heat of her opening under the stroke of his fingers sent the tingle building at the base of his spine surging through his crotch.

"Is this an invitation?" he breathed, gently tonguing at her ear.

"Dunno," she mumbled sleepily, "tired, but feels nice."

"I could do all the work," he offered, nuzzling aside a swath of hair to explore the slope of her neck and shoulder with his mouth.

For a long moment she made no sound except barely audible whispers of pleasure as his fingers went between stroking over velvety, swollen surfaces to sliding into and then out of a pool of wet, heat. He moved against her, rubbing the hard ridge of his arousal into the soft curves of her ass.

"Vala?" he prompted, hoarsely, "yes or no."

She shifted. The leg she wasn't lying on lifted up to straddle the leg he wasn't lying on. The slight alteration in position opened her up completely to him. Her message was blatant. Taking a breath, he forced himself to think beyond just the craving to slide himself into her silky, hot sheath. He made a slight move to lie more on his back, shifting her until she was almost sprawled along the length of his body, her back pressing firmly against his chest. His hand that had been curled around her waist but trapped by her lying on it was suddenly free. With it and the hand he lifted from between her legs, he managed to push her underwear and track pants over her hips and off her rear.

"God Val," he whispered huskily, feasting his eyes and hands on the satiny skin of her belly, "you are so luscious and sexy like this, I may be the insatiable one for awhile."

Exhaling a throaty giggle she turned her head towards him, hooked her free arm around his neck and brought his mouth down to hers. He sunk into the lush heat of her mouth, eagerly chasing the tease and flick of her tongue. When she sucked his tongue into her mouth, he wondered for a split second, if he was the one actually in control. Then it didn't matter anymore because she was pulling at his tongue in rhythmic imitation of the other rhythm she wanted. An answering want throbbed in his jeans, demanding gratification. He broke the kiss with a ragged breath, fumbling with shaky fingers to free himself of his clothes. Tilting his hips up he managed to unzip and push his jeans down his hips, but with one arm still partially caught around her waist he couldn't get them any further.

"Shit," he breathed against her shoulder, "stuck," he turned his gaze to hers, gesturing helplessly, "Can you?"

Silently watching him with slitted eyes, she reached back, hooked her hands into his clothes and pushed. With an abrupt jerk he was no longer rubbing against his clothes but against the soft roundness of her ass. He barely had time to register the cool air on his skin before her hand closed around him. Shifting scant inches away from him and tipping her hips back in his direction she guided him into her from behind. He let out a hard groan as tight, hot silk closed around him. It took a moment of catching his breath and only just managing to keep himself from getting lost in her sweet softness before he began to move. There wasn't the space for anything except short, fast thrusts into her. He figured it didn't matter. This was escalating rapidly. It wasn't going to take much to send either of them careening into long, orgasmic spasms. Confined space and restrictions on movement were infusing a desperate lust into the erotic, reckless quality of the awkward position. Judging by the way his name was spilling from Vala's mouth in breathless, hard gasps and she kept pushing harder and harder back into his thrusts, she was already hovering at the edge. With immense concentration he shifted them slightly forward onto their sides, brushing one of his hands, feather-light, back and forth across the rigid peak of her nipple and returned his other hand to stroke the hot little nub between her legs. Trembling under his touch, she arched back into his thrust, grinding her ass against his groin.

"Please Daniel," she panted, "just…."

She trailed off into a moan as he shoved into her, his head dropping to press the edge of his teeth into the delicate skin where her neck met her shoulder. A low, shuddering groan flowed out of her mouth and her body began to shake, the tiny swollen pearl under his finger suddenly rigid. Smooth, sleek inner muscles rippled in spasms up and down his length. He clutched at her hip, driving himself into her in sharp, frantic thrusts, until fire roared up his spine and splintered across his brain in nerve numbing flashes of light.

"Ahhh, God…Vala," he groaned into her shoulder, his hips jerking against her, "God…. 're so fansta'ic…cara…so fan'astic…" he trailed off, his brain incapable of further coherent thought.

He couldn't judge how long he drifted in a haze of post-coital buzz, but he figured it wasn't long, since when he finally opened his eyes, he hadn't slipped out of her yet. Which meant there was still a chance he might be able to keep them from making a mess.

"Val," he whispered, resting his chin in the curve of her shoulder, "gotta move sweet'eart…carefully too or we'll have a mess."

Vala made a barely audible murmur of acknowledgement, and stretched, pressing her rear into his groin. At the same time her movement sent another ripple of pleasure through his body, he felt himself slide out of her.

He dropped his forehead into the curve of her shoulder and sighed.

"So much for that plan…least this thing's been Scotch-Guarded."

Giggling softly, she twisted her position enough to look up at him.. Smoky blue eyes regarding him with soft, tender adoration made him smile. He didn't often acknowledge the primitive male part of his brain that wanted to revel in having taken his woman to ecstasy, but she looked so thoroughly debauched and satiated that he couldn't stop himself from preening a little.

"Was that good?" he said smugly.

"Mmmm," she purred, looking very much like the cat that got the cream, "You know you can be very unexpected sometimes Dr. Jackson."

"Oh? Why?" he asked, now feeling smug that he had also surprised her too.

She shrugged, "Kept expecting you to insist that we take this up to bed."

He grinned, "See, sometimes I can give into the moment, but _now_," he began the struggle to extract himself from his position, "I am insisting that we take this upstairs."

She pouted at him.

"Vala," he said with faint exasperation, turning to push himself up away from her. "I'm not sleeping down here. Now, come on, a little help here." he vaguely nodded down in the direction of his clothing caught around his knees.

She shifted onto her back and leaned up towards him, her pout becoming a seductive grin. "Oh but darling, you're so very scrumptious like this," she reached, cradling his soft, moist flesh in her palm, "rumpled and flushed with your jeans only pushed down far enough to free yourself so you could have fast, passionate sex, you look positively wanton. "

He tried to scowl disapprovingly at her, but the effect was ruined by the way her choice of words made his body twitch in her hand. Words were his addiction and often his weakness. Her grin became almost predatory.

"You know, I could take us around again," she murmured, drawing the pad of her thumb across the warm, sticky tip.

He wrapped his own hand around hers and lifted it away from his crotch.

"Yes I know you could, but I'm tired and I thought you were too," he peered at her over the top of his glasses.

She looped her arms around his neck and grinned impishly. "Hmm…maybe not so much."

He narrowed his eyes. "Wait…are you implying you set me up?"

She pursed her lips in thought and shrugged. "Hmm…more like, offered the opportunity. I was sleepy but I've never considered that to be a good reason to not have sex with you…especially when it results in you being uninhibited about it."

He shook his head. "You're incorrigible."

"I am," she grinned., tapping a finger against his nose, "and don't you dare deny that you love it."

He regarded her for a moment. She was right. He couldn't deny that it was a boost to his somewhat battered and often ignored male ego knowing a beautiful woman wanted him anytime, anywhere. He also couldn't deny how good it felt to have someone who wanted and needed him for just for himself and not for what he knew or could do for them.

Bracing himself with his hands on either side of her head, he leaned forward and dropped a soft kiss on her mouth.

"I will never deny that I love you. Now could I get a little help here please," he gestured at his clothes, "I can feel myself stiffening up from being in this position too long."

Vala made a show of dropping her gaze to his groin and then lifted her eyes back to his with a cheeky smirk.

"Funny, there's no evidence of stiffening from my angle."

"Vala," he almost growled with faint irritation.

"Fine, fine," she laughed softly, reaching to tug his underwear and jeans back into place as he pushed himself upward until he had one foot planted on the floor and the other knee still on the couch.

Fastening his belt buckle he reached down to help her pull her track pants back up.

"C'mon mommy," he smiled softly, moving off the couch completely, "time for bed."

He stuck out his hand to help her up. She beamed at him, shook her head and wiggled both her arms up in the direction of his neck instead.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you serious?"

She pouted prettily at him and nodded.

Sighing in resignation, he stooped to swing her up into his arms, "God, I am such a sucker sometimes."


	24. Feb 2011

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N: **Issuing a warning for heavy angst

**

* * *

**

**beginning of Feb 2011**

"Samantha."

Sam looked up to the owner of the dark, velvet voice.

"Teal'c." she said quietly with deep affection.

Her long-time Jaffa friend made a faint bow to acknowledge her greeting.

"May I join you." he asked indicating with a tilt of an eyebrow, the chair he stood beside.

Sam gave him a faux-scowl. "I think I'm hurt that you felt you needed to ask."

"You appeared to be preoccupied," he nodded at the several file folders she had open in front of her, taking up most of the space on the table, "I did not wish to disturb you."

Flashing a sheepish grimace along with an apologetic "sorry" she closed all the folders and gathered them into a pile to one side of the table.

She sat back in her chair with a bright smile, and gestured for him to sit, "Not disturbing me at all. I was just analyzing the crew roster changes for the Hammond's next flight, but it's not pressing."

"So how was your visit home?" she watched in amusement while he settled himself and his tray of food at the table. Some things never changed and Teal'c's ability to put away huge amounts of food was one of them.

"Most pleasant," he replied, crumpling a large number of crackers into his soup.

"Ry'ac and Kar'yn are well?"

"They are and expecting their third child within the year."

Sam smiled at the barely perceptible upward tilt to Teal'c's mouth. Anyone that hadn't worked side by side with him for as long as she had wouldn't have noticed the change in his expression. She saw it and recognized the pleasure in it.

She leaned toward him with a grin. "You really like being a grandfather don't you?"

Teal'c raised his eyes from the soup he was obviously relishing. The tilt to his mouth rose up further.

"I do. I find the company of the young ones pleasurable and enlivening. "

Sam laughed. "And then you enjoy handing them back over to their parents at the end of the day when you've had enough."

He lifted his gaze back to hers as he traded the empty soup bowl for a plate laden with potatoes, chicken and vegetables.

"Indeed."

The merriment in his chocolate brown eyes made Sam laugh again. She reached for the pie on her tray that had been left untouched while she perused her files.

"And have your and O'Neill's efforts for children been successful yet?" he asked after a several moments of silence.

Picking up her coffee, Sam shook her head. "'Fraid not. Things, as always, conspire to keep us apart. With Jack spending so much time trying to stay on top of the Destiny situation and my command of the Hammond, we're not together as much as we'd like to be," she paused with a sigh, "I'm beginning to wonder if we should even bother continuing. I'm over forty and the older I get…well things just get more complicated the older I get."

"You are not old Samantha. You are still in the prime of your life."

Sam put her cup down and patted his hand. "Thank you Teal'c, but for a human woman, the forties is when having children starts becoming risky, for the mother and the child."

Teal'c wrapped his large hand around hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I am certain you will be successful."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said with a small grateful smile, turning her attention back to the pie.

"And are they also well?" Teal'c asked a moment later.

Turning, Sam glanced over her shoulder in the direction Teal'c had gestured. Daniel and Vala were just joining the procession of people selecting food for lunch.

Sam turned back, forking up the last of her pie.

"Yup," she nodded, "far as I know, they are. They had an ultra-sound done last week."

"And the babe?"

Sam looked sharply at Teal'c. The underlying tone in his voice that she'd first heard at Christmas was back again.

"Fine Teal'c, everything looks fine," Sam chuckled suddenly, "I'm sure Daniel will be more than happy to show you the ultra-sound pictures…he's got them attached to his computer monitor."

"That is good to hear," a look of puzzlement suddenly crossed Teal'c's face, "what is it they are doing?"

Sam turned in time to see her two best friends in dispute over something. She watched Vala placing a plate with a piece of pie, that she had seemingly just removed from Daniel's tray, back amongst similar plates in the display case. Barely a beat passed before Daniel returned the pie to his tray. In the next moment Vala said something, moved the plate back to the shelf again and put a large green salad onto his tray instead.

"Ahh, poor Daniel," Sam chuckled, watching his mouth thin and his eyes narrow while he decisively plunked the pie back onto his tray along side the bowl of salad, "Vala's so determined that this baby will be born normal and healthy that she's become quite exacting with her diet. If it doesn't contribute to the baby's well-being she's taken it out of her diet. Thing is though, she's now extending that to Daniel's diet too," shaking her head, Sam turned back to Teal'c, "And, much to his annoyance, she has the complete backing of his doctor. I gather Carolyn's been warning him about needing to watch his diet since he and Vala left active service…he's cruising towards 50 and since we're not busy saving the galaxy anymore, he's not as active as he once was."

Sam smirked. "I'm sure you can imagine how well that's going over with him."

"Indeed." Teal'c's eyebrow quirked up in amusement, but his gaze remained focused on their friends.

Puzzled by the odd tension that suddenly flickered over Teal'c's otherwise pleased expression, Sam shifted in her chair again, sending a glance over her shoulder to see what their friends were doing to cause it. She couldn't stop her own small smile at what she saw. Daniel and Vala had paused in the middle of the 'hot' service line. They were completely focused on each other, plainly oblivious to the other people having to swerve around them. She had his hand pressed flat, palm side down along the outside curve of her softly rounded belly. The gentle look of love and awe that passed between them made Sam's smile deepen, and produced a faint pang of envy in her gut. She'd been expecting that she and Jack would be sharing the same sensations by now. Smiling, Sam shifted to face Teal'c again, catching out of the corner of her eye as she turned, a glimpse of Daniel pressing a soft kiss to Vala's forehead.

"A couple of days after you left to see Ry'ac, Daniel started being able to feel the baby's movements." Sam threw a quick glance back over her shoulder again at the expectant parents continuing their way through the serving line.

She turned her head back, meeting Teal'c's gaze. "He was speechless," she grinned at the memory, "I don't think I've ever seen him this happy before," she paused briefly, regarding her long-time friend thoughtfully, "although judging from the memories you recorded on that DVD, I guess you have."

Teal'c's attention dropped back to the remaining food on his plate. "I have."

Sam watched that odd tension flicker across his face again. She couldn't define it but it was definitely the same one that had chased across his face when Daniel made the baby announcement at Christmas dinner.

She reached across the table to touch his hand. "Teal'c? What's up? Something's been bothering you since Daniel told us about the baby at Christmas.

There was a moment's hesitation and then his head lifted to meet her eyes with his. The shadow of sadness in the rich brown depths took her by surprise.

"Promise me you will not share with anyone what I am about to say Samantha." he said softly.

Sam nodded. "Of course Teal'c."

He shut his eyes with a brief nod then opened them again a moment later.

"There was a babe during our time on the Odyssey."

Sam blinked in shock.

"Oh my God," came out of her mouth in a soft breath.

Teal'c's gaze dropped back the scraps left on his plate.

"Wh…what happened," Sam whispered, the ramifications of Teal'c's revelation flashing across her brain like lightening, "how did you all deal with that…"

She left the question hanging in mid-air. Thinking any further about the anguish they must of all suffered having to leave behind a person they all must have grown to love was almost more than she could bear.

"It was Daniel and Vala's?" she asked, blinking back tears.

"It was." Teal'c sighed.

"How were they able to face the explosion to change time back, knowing that it would take their child away from them?"

Teal's looked up. "It is fortunate that they were not put in that position. The babe did not survive beyond the second month."

Sam looked him in shock. "Please tell me you mean she miscarried."

"Indeed." Teal'c intoned.

Sam expelled a long sigh. "Oh well, that was for the best anyway wasn't it.? Raising a child in that situation should have been unthinkable, never really knowing if or when the situation would be solved…leaving a loved one on that ship after everyone else had died, to wait alone for who knows how long until the weapon blast finally hit the ship. That would've been horrible. Still I can imagine they were initially devastated by the loss. Vala especially. I don't know if the Daniel on the Odyssey ever understood what the Daniel in this time hasn't realized yet, but you and I both know that he's everything to her…for her to suddenly lose the absolutely irrefutable proof that he loves her," Sam shook her head sadly, "it must have torn her apart."

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded, "DanielJackson came to the realization within a short time that raising a child in those circumstances was not wise. It took ValaMalduran several months to arrive at that understanding."

"So are you worried that this pregnancy will also end?"

"I am. It has been my hope that the loss they suffered on their anniversary was the equivalent to their loss on the Odyssey, but the manner in which they announced the babe during our Christmas gathering was much the same as the manner in which they told us on the Odyssey."

Sam leaned forward and covered his hand with hers. "I'm sure it'll be fine Teal'c. There haven't been any signs of trouble as far as I know…they've got definite movement and

a good, strong heartbeat."

Teal'c let a long sigh, "It is my hope that you are correct Samantha. I do not wish to observe them experiencing that sorrow again."

**mid February 2011**

The next hour passed in a blur of gut-wrenching pain and blood, a wailing siren and flashing lights. The first thing that penetrated the armour he had drawn around himself to keep from falling apart, was Carolyn physically pulling him away from Vala's bed.

"You can't stay Daniel."

"But I told her I wouldn't leave," he dragged his gaze away from the still, too-pale form of his wife to meet Carolyn's brown eyes.  
"I promised her," he whispered desperately.

He didn't even try to stop his voice from shaking. He could let it go now. Carolyn had seen them through every medical crisis in their lives. She knew their struggle to reach for home and family. She knew what this was doing to them.

"I promised, Carolyn," he whispered again, almost pleading.

The doctor shook her head, steering him towards the door.

"I know Daniel, and at the base I put up with the five of you stubbornly refusing to leave the infirmary when one of you is injured off-world, but these are different circumstances and a different place. Hospital policy doesn't allow the father to stay in this situation. And frankly I don't want you to." she swallowed, moisture glistening in her own eyes, " So please, alright. She's heavily sedated so she's not in anymore pain and she won't know that you're not here. When this is all over and we can move her I'll let you know so you can be there when she wakes up. Okay?"

Tears beginning to seep down his face, he nodded numbly.

Carolyn opened the door and guided him into the corridor. The door shut behind him. He took a step away, faintly registered the stricken faces of his family and sagged against the wall. Oblivious to everything but the all-too-familiar yawning chasm of loss engulfing him, he sank to the floor, the heels of his hands pressed into his eyes to stem the cascade of tears.


	25. March 2011

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'..

**A/N: **WOW! I can't believe how long it's taken me to get this right..plus I've also had some back problems that kept my brain from working in high gear. BUT I think this is finally right. Be prepared for the angst...this made me tear-up while I was writing it. Yeah I know I said that after the miscarriage that things will get better, but this is only a month after the miscarriage so everything isn't hunky-dory yet.

As always...anything you wanna say, I wanna hear.

* * *

**early March 2011**

Daniel flicked the heater control to maximum as he eased away from the traffic light. A snow squall had blown through the city while he'd been down in the SGC picking up reference books he needed at home. The fine dusting of snow had left the streets slick and greasy. Just the driving conditions he hated the most. Actually even at the best of times there wasn't much about northern winters that he did like; and this definitely was not the best of times. The other February he could remember hating as much as the one just passed was the one he spent in New York when he was eight. He wanted this winter to be over as much as he had that one. He wanted to be somewhere with sun and heat. Somewhere to rest. He wondered briefly if the electrocution had actually zapped away some of his life force. Or maybe it was simply that his age was starting to tell on him. Whichever, he was tired; bone tired and soul weary. The past month been emotionally exhausting. For the first time ever in his adult life he felt compelled to get away. Away from the partially finished nursery. Away from the co-workers who were smothering in their sympathy; and the ones who meant well but said the wrong things; and the ones who simply didn't know what to say, so they avoided him. Away from the base so he wouldn't give into his natural inclination to bury his grief in work instead of staying focused on Vala. Sam, Carolyn and Andrew had all made sure he knew in no uncertain terms how they felt on that subject. Even Jack, in his weird Jack-speak had felt the need to add his own two cents. The gist of which was something along the lines of "screw up your marriage and I'll kick your ass."

Another red light brought traffic to a stop. He sat, lightly drumming his gloved fingers against the steering wheel, musing idly about sunshine, and sand while he watched the wipers swipe away the coating of slush thrown across the windshield by a passing car. An image of a small, elegant cabana with a wall of glass sliding back to create the impression of sleeping directly on the beach floated through his thoughts as he started through the intersection. The recognition of the image actually made him smile. Belize. The cancelled anniversary trip. Quiet, secluded, private. A place alone for them to rest and heal. It occurred to him, while he sat waiting for a city bus to pass by him so he could make the left turn onto their street, that a 'quiet' place where they were completely alone wasn't exactly her usual way of dealing with trauma. Drowning it out with inane chatter, outrageous sexual behaviour and a simple refusal to acknowledge it, was more her style. Admittedly, he wasn't much better at facing grief head on either. He was way more comfortable burying how much he was hurting in his books and work. If putting themselves in a situation though, where those avoidance techniques weren't possible and being forced to face their grief alone together was going to mean the difference between keeping their marriage intact or having it fall apart, then they were both just going to have to suck it up and deal with the discomfort.

Daniel swung the car into the driveway, feeling somehow lighter with just the notion of getting away. He pulled into the garage registering the dashboard clock as he cut the engine. 10:30pm. A little later than he'd intended, but at least, he congratulated himself, he hadn't let his natural inclination to find solace in his books get the better of him. At the door into the house he pulled off a glove, tapped in the code to bypass the security system and stepped into the back hallway. The quiet darkness surrounding him wasn't really surprising. Since he'd brought her home a week earlier, Vala had been seeking sleep by 10pm most nights. Actually she'd been seeking sleep a lot through out the days too. Which was understandable, given what she was recovering from, but he couldn't help fearing that sleep was becoming a new avoidance technique. He was certainly beginning to felt like she was avoiding him, shutting him out. There had barely been 10 words between them since she came home. He just didn't know how to get her to open up. He was willing to give to her some space, but if he left her to herself for too long, she'd slip into 'pretend she wasn't hurting' mode and then she never get past the pain and loss.

Depositing his coat and boots on the coat rack at the bottom of the stairs, he made quick detour to the front door to reset the security alarm before taking the stairs to the second floor two at a time. A motion sensitive light came on as he reached the upper hallway. Daniel crossed the last few steps to their bedroom door, opened it and stopped.

Someone else might have been shocked to find her huddled on the floor at the foot of their bed, weeping, alone, in the dark; but he wasn't. He was almost relieved. Using tonight, when she was completely alone for the first time since the miscarriage, to break down and try to cope with her grief alone was probably the most Vala-like thing she'd done in the past two weeks. Since he'd brought her home she'd been so quiet and subdued. He'd hesitated to use the term catatonic, but her detachment from everything almost felt like that. Now it was breaking his heart that after everything they'd been through together she still thought she had to cope alone. She still didn't get that he would always be there to hold her up when she was falling apart.

He padded across the room, gently easing himself down into the space between her and the end of the bed. She didn't seem to be aware of him or his arms around her at first.

Then suddenly she lurched as if trying to flee his embrace like a wounded animal snapping at someone trying to help it.

He tightened his arms, pulling her back against him, murmuring into her hair.

"Shhh…I'm here…I'm right here."

All the fight went out of her in a rush. She collapsed against him, sagging back into his arms, smothering heavy gut-wrenching sobs into his chest.

He held and rocked her late into the night. His own unshed tears for a lifetime of too many losses eventually spilled down his face to mingle with hers.

**late March 2011**

"Okay," Carolyn Lam slung the stethoscope around her neck, flashing a quick smile at Daniel and Vala, "everything looks good so I'd say we're done here."

"So…uhh," Daniel cleared his throat, "Carolyn," he shifted a little nervously and folded his arms across his chest, "umm, when can we…uh…"he lifted one arm off his chest to make an encompassing motion between he and Vala.

Carolyn lifted a questioning eyebrow. Vala leaned towards her, barely stifling a snort of laughter.

"He wants to know Carolyn when can we get back to the old 'in and out'," she said in a fake whisper.

Carolyn nodded seriously. "Right…a valid question that I'll answer in my office once Vala's dressed. Okay?"

She cast a glance at them as she gathered up her clipboard and the items that required disposal.

"Good," she made a slight movement of her head to acknowledge their nods of agreement," see you in a few minutes then."

Daniel watched the privacy curtain pulled around the bed settle back into place after Carolyn's departure. He turned slightly and eyed Vala over the top of his glasses.

"Was it necessary to be that crass?"

Vala paused, her hands fumbling at the back of her neck with the tie of the gown and flashed a teasing smirk at him.

"Of course it was darling. I'm certain Carolyn knew exactly what you were asking, but I just wanted to see you go," she lifted one hand away from her neck to pat his cheek, "this delightful shade of pink."

He scowled at her. She shrugged, giving him an innocent grin as she resumed trying to undo the gown tie. He watched her fiddle with the strings for a moment before finally brushing her hands away from the knot a little impatiently

"Here let me," he said quietly.

"Thank you Daniel," she said softly, lifting her hair away from her neck and twisting slightly to give him better access.

Squinting at the knot, Daniel teased the two strings apart, his thoughts split between his task and his wife's behaviour. He supposed he should consider it progress of a sort that coming into the SGC for this appointment had kicked into life the most 'Vala' like behaviour he'd seen in the previous month. Ever since the night earlier in the month when for the first time since the miscarriage she'd finally broken down in his arms and cried, she had been slowly been coming back to herself. In light of that he couldn't find it in himself to reprimand her any further for her rather crude reference to their sex life. He knew she was only posturing, attempting to hide from others how deeply the miscarriage was affecting her. She was still so much a chameleon to everyone except him. That was okay though, he could live with that as long as he knew she wasn't hiding the truth from him.

The strings finally came apart between his fingers.

"There." he said, pressing light kiss to her shoulder as he pushed the edges of the gown apart across her back and over her shoulders.

She tilted a soft grateful smile up at him over her shoulder and pulled the gown down her arms. Silently he watched her redress, gently easing her off the bed to the floor so she could pull her jeans up and steadying her while she slid her feet back into low-heeled, leather slouch boots.

"Okay? You ready?" he asked gently.

Looking up, her gaze meeting his, she gave him a quick, tight nod. The sadness in the depths of her blue-grey eyes made his heart hurt. He let out a gentle sigh, reaching to fold his arms around her. Pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head, he cradled her in his embrace. In moments like this when she dropped her defences he knew he had her truth.

He moved her out of his arms and smiled softly.

"So we'll go hear what Carolyn has to say about the old 'in and out' and then we'll head home. Okay?"

Her gentle snicker made him smile; he hadn't heard her laughter much in the last month.

Pushing the privacy curtain open, the metal rings on the overhead track clinking with the motion, he gestured her in the direction of Carolyn's office.

Her hand slipped into his as they settled into the chairs in front of Carolyn's desk. Giving her hand a quick squeeze he raised it to place a soft kiss on her fingers. Carolyn swept into the office at that moment, dropping into her chair across the desk from them and giving them a quick smile.

"Okay to answer your question; physically there's no reason you can't resume relations immediately but don't rush it if either of you don't feel ready. When you do I would advise the use of condoms, at least for the short term," Carolyn paused, her gaze dropping to her hands clasped across the clipboard and file folder in front of her.

Daniel frowned. The phrase 'I've got a bad feeling about this" floated across his thoughts.

Letting out a small sigh, Carolyn raised her gaze back to them.

"Long term…I think it would be best if you two did something about permanent birth-control.

Daniel felt his heart constrict at the same time Vala's grasp on his hand tightened.

Carolyn pulled in a breath before continuing.

"After reviewing the final report about the miscarriage and tests results after the one last year I can't discourage you enough from trying again. I'm afraid the outcome would be the same."

Vala's hand in his suddenly began to loosen.

"Why?" he asked, tightening his grip around her fingers, trying to warm up her suddenly cold and distance hand.

"I can't point to any one thing Daniel. I'm now realizing that the hormonal imbalances I've been noting all along but thought were only a result of Adria's unusual birth are possibly from much earlier interference by Qetesh so Vala wouldn't conceive. The intra-uterine scarring I thought had something to do with Adria is actually more extensive than was first seen."

Vala's hand seemed to be continuing to slip away from his no matter how tightly he kept his fingers wrapped around hers.

"And your tests," Carolyn continued, tapping a finger against one of the file folders under her hands, "haven't been a hundred percent either I'm afraid."

Daniel felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. The niggling fear of why Sha're had never conceived was back at the edge of his thoughts.

He took a breath and cleared his throat. "So uhh, bottom line Carolyn?"

Carolyn heaved a sigh. "Bottom line? Vala will only be 40 this year, she's got easily another ten child-bearing years, so you can spend the next ten years using condoms or you can consider the surgical options."

Daniel threw a glance at Vala. Her lack of participation in this conversation alarmed him. It felt like she was shutting down again. Keeping a watch on her from the corner of his eye he turned his attention back to Carolyn.

"Isn't the pill still an option?"

Carolyn shook her head. "It's not a permanent solution. I'm sure you're aware that over time there will be increased chances of heart attacks, strokes and cancer."

He caught Vala's sudden flurry of movement that preceded her abrupt departure from the room.  
"Vala!" he leapt from his chair, barely managing a 'thanks Carolyn' as he darted out of the room after his wife.

He found her leaning against a wall at the elevator, head bowed, eyes closed. He stopped directly in front of her.

"You okay?" he asked gently.

She looked up with a stiff smile and nodded. The moist gleam in her blue-grey eyes and the desperate attempt to keep the corners of her mouth from shaking told him the truth. She wasn't okay. He'd been kidding himself since the night he'd found her crying alone in their darkened bedroom that she'd been bouncing back. He couldn't continue to let her avoid dealing with this.

Wrapping one arm around her shoulder he slid his ID through the card reader to open the elevator door.

"C'mon," he said gently guiding her into the elevator, "let's get outta here."

He let silence settle between them during the elevator ride up to the surface and the drive home. She seemed so fragile and close to breaking, the one thing he didn't want was for that to happen while mid-day traffic would prevent him from giving her his undivided attention.

Once home he allowed the silence to linger only as long as it took to shed their coats.

"Vala?" he stopped her movement in the direction of the stairs with a hand on her arm.

She shrugged away from his touch and the question in his voice without turning around.

"I'm fine Daniel." she said tersely

He closed the space between them, tightening his grip on her arm.

"Vala, you're not! You're wound so tight you're gonna break apart any minute We need to start talking about this now."

She twisted to face him, wrenching her arm from his grasp. "Start talking Daniel? I don't think there's anything left to talk about. I believe Carolyn said all the words that were necessary. The only one thing I have left to say is that I'll be leaving in the morning."

It took until she had disappeared up to the second floor before he completely heard what she'd said. Sudden comprehension sent him up the stairs in blind fear.

He stopped dead in the doorway of their walk-in closet to see her struggling to pull away from the wall the steamer trunk she'd brought through the 'gate with her almost five years earlier.

"LEAVE? What!? Are you insane?" he demanded, trying to quell the knot of panic settling into his gut.

"No Daniel, I'm not! What was insane was ever thinking this wasn't going to come to an end." she swung to face him, jabbing at finger at him, "Maybe you didn't hear the earth-shattering ka-boom this morning, but _I _did."

She turned away to heave open the trunk lid. "I told you…I warned you," she admonished, shaking her head, "that…that someday I'd let you down…that…that my past would ruin everything.… but you promis…," her voice caught, "you promised we'd be okay," she hiccupped a sob, "you promised...and…and now…"

He stared at her in pained disbelief. "So, this is somehow MY fault…for…for…wanting you to have something better …for caring about you?"

She whirled to face him. "YES!" she choked, "I was just fine until I ran into you…I…I knew what my life was supposed to be…it was exactly what my past had earned me…it was enough for me…I could come and go as I pleased…I never had to figure out what other people wanted…sex was just a game…it never left me with this," she swivelled away from him, her voice shaking and began furiously yanking open drawers that held her clothing, "this…emptiness."

"Then…then," she stammered, not even lifting her head to see where the underwear she was pitching was actually landing, "you," her voice wavered and cracked again "you came along,…showing me something better…letting me think…convincing me that I could be better and that I'd suddenly become somehow deserving of this." she flung her arm around her head, gesturing at her surroundings.

Daniel watched her through tear-filled eyes, hurting for both of them. They'd each lost so much…and so many times in his life he'd been powerless to prevent his own losses. This time he wasn't letting either of them lose anything.

"NO!" he blurted through clenched teeth. "I am NOT letting you do this. …we've struggled for this for too long. I can live with not having children…"

"Right." she cut in, rising to her feet, "because it never really mattered to you if we did anyway."

"WHAT!" he stared at her, the crease of disbelief between his eyes deepening, "I was thrilled at the prospect of being a father Vala…how could you ever think it didn't matter to me?

She spun to face him. "Because not once did you ever say 'Yes Vala, I want a child with you'. No, all you kept saying was that it was up to me."

"It was," he spat, "it had to be your choice….after the fiasco of Adria I didn't want you doing the children thing because you thought I expected it.

He seized her arms. "Look, I had to come to terms a long time ago with the likelihood that I'd never have my own children And if that's way it's still gotta be then that's okay, I can deal with that," he paused, blinking back tears, "but I can't deal with losing you. I can't let you walk away."

She twisted away from him again. "I'm a grown woman Daniel, I can do what I wish."

"Then damn it Vala, be a grown up and don't run from this…from me…from us." his voice dropped to a whisper as he watched the rigid tension of her posture began to crumble.

He took the step that closed the space between them, laying his hands lightly on her shoulders. "We can get through this, but only if we're together."

Her body heaved with a shudder. "I'm…I'm s…sorry…I let you down." she said in a cracked whisper, the rest of the tension draining out of her body.

He wrapped an arm completely around her shoulders, pulling her back to rest against him.

He leaned his forehead against her hair. "You haven't let me down Val…and you've done nothing to apologize for."

He turned her to face him, laying a hand along the side of her cheek. "Walking away would be letting me down."

With a teary smile she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest.

Folding his arms around her, he rested his forehead against her head and let out a long sigh of relief.

"_We_ will be okay sweetheart…I promise….it's just gonna take some time."


	26. mid April 2011

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N**: **YES** I know...shock and awe abound...after struggling through distractions all summer long that kept me from concentrating on this...this chapter is FINALLY complete!

Lessee...the last posted chapter took place in March 2011...so Daniel is 45 and Vala is 39.

This is an intensely 'adult' so reader discretion is advised.

Enjoy and as always, anything you wanna say, I wanna hear.

OH and the one thing I keep forgetting to do....THANK YOU Merrykk for your time and effort that helps me keep these two acting and reacting 'in-character'

* * *

**mid-April 2011**

Vala shoved her feet down through the sun-seared top surface of sand into the cool, damp layer below. She laid her arms across her bent knees and propped her chin on her arms, watching with an absent-minded gaze, the surf rolling onto the shore. The last time she could remember being beside one of Earth's oceans had been….their honeymoon in Europe…almost… With a start she realized their second wedding anniversary was approaching. Shifting her head down to lean her forehead against her knees, she closed her eyes. It seemed so long ago. She couldn't seem to remember the last time she'd been that unabashedly happy. It felt like she'd been angry and sad for years and years.

She knew of course, intellectually, that was ridiculous. It'd only been two months since everything had fallen apart and she knew exactly the last time she'd been happy.

Mere hours before the twisting pain ripped through her gut Daniel had arrived home after three days off-world to catch up with the 'dig' on Invernia. There had been nothing showy or remarkable about his return. Sharing a soft chaste kiss, a quick hug and beaming smiles when he stepped off the 'gate ramp was as dramatic as their reunion got. The rest of their evening had been equally unremarkable. Over a feast of their favourite Thai take-out she'd been content to let him ramble on about the latest findings on Invernia just so she could relish listening to his voice and watching the way talking about his work always made his eyes light up. That had been followed by an hour or two of him making a start on transcribing his journal notes from Invernia to his laptop while she channel-surfed until she found, much to Daniel's eye-rolling chagrin, a sports channel airing her newest addiction; women's roller derby. After watching half an hour of spectacularly bad 'reffing' and less than inspiring play by the team known for their dirty tactics her interest in the match ended with Daniel nuzzling into her neck and whispering in her ear, in precise detail, how exactly he'd missed her. That had lead to heated, blissful lovemaking. She had fallen asleep, content with his arms wrapped around her, one hand splayed protectively across her swollen belly. Then in sudden waves of agonizing pain and blood, the half-way normal, happy life she had been finally starting to believe in was ripped away from her.

A wash of tears that she couldn't stop trickled down her cheeks to make damp splotches in the sand. She let out a long sigh and rubbed her eyes along her arm. She was so tired of crying. She thought she had cried herself dry the night Daniel had held her until dawn. She'd thought she was coming back to herself after that. She'd thought with every passing day that they were almost back normal and that the sooner they started trying for another baby the sooner she could fill up the hollow feeling inside her.

Then with Carolyn's assessment Vala knew she'd been a fool to ever stop knowing that her past would, sooner or later, make her pay for thinking she deserved to be happy.

Another flood of tears slid down her face into the sand. Solid familiar arms cool and damp from being in the water folded around her. She leaned into the embrace, grateful for his unwavering presence.

"I'm sorry," she said, shakily.

"For what?" his voice was soft against her hair.

"For…for being such a basket case…still."

She raised her head to swipe her hands over her eyes.

"No time limit on how long you're allowed to be basket case far's I know…so you don't need to apologize."

She turned to look directly to him. He'd obviously just come out of the water. His hair was plastered to his skull and his face was bare of glasses. She reached, laying her hand along his cheek and studied him. He looked so young and vulnerable without his glasses. Even more so inside intimate personal space. It had taken her awhile to get used to how easily she could read every emotion that passed across his face. Even now, she could see the anguish of their loss reflected in the care and concern in his eyes when he looked at her, but yet outwardly he seemed calm and unaffected.

"And why aren't you?" she said softly.

His brow furrowed. "Why aren't I what?"

"A basket case."

His gaze dropped, a faint wince of sorrow flickered across his face, betraying that he was hurting as much as she was. He shrugged.

"Because you need me not to be."

Vala blinked rapidly, to dispel another welling up of tears. He'd never let her down. Ever. Even when she'd turned on him and blamed him for her pain because he'd convinced her to believe in happily-ever-after; he'd resolutely refused to let their marriage fall apart.

"And it's helping me," he looked up, his gaze focusing on the tumble of the surf., "that you've haven't run away, …that you aren't trying to pretend this doesn't matter…you letting me see how much you wanted this baby is showing me how important our life together is to you," he turned his head slightly to look at her, "and how important I am to you."

With a sharp nod of her head, Vala dropped her gaze, poking her fingers into the sand below her legs, "I," the words came out in a halting whisper, "I just wanted…to give…give you what…no one else had."

"You have," he murmured, looping his arms around her shoulders and leaning his forehead against her head.

She pulled away from him slightly, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You gave me you," he said with soft smile.

With a dismissive 'hmph', she turned her gaze back to the water, "Oh yes, I'm quite the prize."

"Yeah you are…you're smart and brave and loving and funny …and even after all you've endured you're still enthusiastic about life. You might still make me wanna scream in frustration sometimes, but you also make me laugh. And," his voice dropped to the intimate silkiness of their bedroom, "you are so unbearably sexy I can't think straight."

He leaned away from her slightly. "I gotta a hunch though that somewhere in this," he tapped a finger against her skull, "less than orthodox brain you're still nursing the notion that you're some sort of consolation prize," his finger curled under her chin, lifting her gaze back to his, "but you're not Vala, …you could never take the place of Sha're."

She widened her eyes in hurt disbelief and was rewarded to see him wince.

"Okay," he sighed, wearily dropping his head forward with a shake, "that didn't come out right."

"No kidding." she snapped, turning her eyes back to the water.

He let out another sigh, lifting his head to look directly at her. "Look, all I mean is that you could never be a substitute for anyone…you're too unique. You're just you…and you're who I wanted. Even when I was pushing you away and hating that I had fallen in love with you it wasn't because I was thinking that you couldn't replace Sha're…it was because I didn't think you were capable of anything except breaking my heart."

There was a silence for a moment, then his forehead came to rest against the side of her head again.

"But I was very wrong," he continued softly, "the past few years with you have been amazing and so much more than I ever hoped for. I wanted this child….I did…but if that isn't meant to be then that's okay…as long as I don't lose you too…you're everything I need or want," he paused, his voice thick when he spoke again, "just you."

Waves breaking on the shore and the shrill cry of gulls were the only sounds for several moments. Vala didn't dare look at him. The soft tenderness in his eyes would be her undoing again…and she was so tired of crying. When the silence began to feel overlong she hazarded a glance at him, surprised by the frown creasing his forehead and the way he was studying her with his mouth pursed in thought.

She nudged him. "Daniel?"

He blinked, focused on her and then smiled, "Sorry, just considering something."

"Oh? What?"

Smiling softly he shook his head, stood and held out his hand

"Come inside…I want you to see something."

Uncertain but curious she stood up and followed him back into the cabin.

"So?" she said expectantly when he'd stopped them beside the bed, "what did you want me to see?"

Still frowning in thought he took the step that closed the remaining space between them.

"I…uhh, want you to…uh…see me make love to you."

"An interesting notion to be sure, but there are no mirrors here," she gestured at the space over their bed and around the headboard.

Daniel shook his head, reaching around to the nape of her neck to unfasten the halter strap of her swimsuit.

"No, I literally mean I want you to watch me make love to you."

She shook her head slowly in puzzlement. "I'm afraid I still don't understand."

"I want you to keep your eyes open," he said, reaching to grasp the damp, sandy hem of the oversized Air Force T-shirt she wore over her bathing suit.

" …uhh 'cept maybe when I'm kissing you…having someone watch you while you're kissing them is actually kinda creepy," came through muffled as he pulled the t-shirt off over her head.

With the garment no longer between them she regarded him with uncertainty. The pang of unease in her stomach since he'd mentioned making love wasn't going away. They really hadn't had full intercourse since that night. First there'd been waiting for Carolyn to give them the okay. Then after she voiced her opinion about them trying for another baby, the whole thing had become difficult....the concept of those unpleasant little plastic sheaths had only served to remind Vala that she'd failed him. It had simply led to more tears. She closed her eyes and bowed her head with a weary sigh…she was so tired of crying. Looking back up at him after moment, she shook her head.

"I'm sorry Daniel, I," she said in an almost whisper, worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth, "I don't know I can…"

"Sure ya can," he murmured, stroking a gentle finger down her cheek, "just trust me, okay? I know it sounds a little odd, but you need to know and believe once and for all that you've never been a substitute for anyone…and you didn't need to prove your place in my life by giving me a child. I wanted **you**… just you…and I can say words telling you that 'til I'm blue in the face, but you're a physical being and I figure the only way you're going to 'get it' is if I show you that you're the only one here, here" he touched a hand to first his head, then his chest, "and here," his dropped from his chest to the front of his swimsuit, "when we make love…so please…just try this," both his hands curved around the back of her head, lightly grazing the tender skin behind her ears with long, nimble fingers.

Blinking away another welling of tears, she tilted her head and regarded him.

"And will you keep you eyes open too?"

His fingers stilled. He blinked in surprise.

"Uhhh…I was really wasn't thinking in terms of anything beyond focusing on you."

Vala had to swallow her amusement. Her ever altruistic husband always managing to convince himself that he could still keep his lust for her restrained.

"Well then how will I know for sure that behind your closed eyes I'm the one you're thinking about?"

Daniel huffed a soft laugh, resuming the brush of his fingertips along the back of her neck. "Sweetheart I'm lucky if I can remember my name by the end, let alone be able to think about anyone or anything other than you."

Tingles of warmth spreading down her spine from the drag of the rough tips of his fingers across her skin robbed her of further coherent thought. The craving to lose herself and all the pain of the previous two months in the mindless physical pleasure of his body was undeniable. Her eyes closing, she leaned into him, a soft sound of want whispering from her mouth. One of his hands smoothed down her back to wrap around her waist, drawing her firmly against him. His hand cradling her skull, laced into her hair, keeping her snug in his embrace while he trailed feather-light kisses across her brow, over each eyelid, along a cheekbone to the corners of her mouth. Finally his lips covered hers with a firm tenderness, his tongue slowly teasing its way into her mouth. Exhaling a soft sigh, she let her mouth part under his, welcoming the warm, plush stroke of his tongue against hers. She wrapped her arms around his waist and molded herself into his embrace.

"You are so beautiful Vala," he murmured, drawing away from her after a moment or two.

She opened her eyes to find him intently tracking the slow uncovering of her body as he eased her bathing suit to her waist.

His movement stilled, his gaze settling on her form, still lush with baby weight.

"…just so beautiful…you take my breath away," he whispered, folding his fingers around the curves of her breasts.

Vala felt her own breath stutter and catch. His hands on her, handling her flesh with the same care and reverence he focused on his work, made her squirm. There was still some small part of her that didn't want him adoring her with his hands. It stirred too many memories of men being forced to worship her body on threat of death from Qetesh. The urge to turn her wiles on him to stop his ability to focus on anything beyond his own need still hovered in her thoughts, although less frequently then it used to and at times she let herself surrender without caution to the sensual magic of his touch. Times like now, when his thumbs were skimming tantalizing circles around her nipples, sending surges of warmth down through her body. She watched his elegant, nimble fingers stroke across her breasts, fascinated by the contrast between his large, tanned hands and her fine, pale skin. She raised her gaze to his. Smiling softly, he lifted one hand from her chest to cradle her face in his palm.

"I love you Vala…just you." he murmured, lowering his mouth to hers.

She blinked away another welling of moisture from her eyes. It was that focused earnest tone in his voice that got her every time. That tone had convinced her to believe that she could be better, that she could live a better life, that he was home and that maybe happily-ever-after was possible. Closing her eyes, she wound her arms around his neck and molded her body against his, letting herself get lost in his mouth moving over hers, sweet, lingering and heated. Dreamily she felt his hands drifting back to her bathing suit while his mouth eased away from hers to trail kisses along her jawbone to her ear and, down her throat. His tongue rubbing deeply into the pulse in her neck, made her moan. She opened her eyes. Dark golden brown hair was all she could see as he bent his head, renewing his path of kisses down her throat. She threaded her hands into his hair, letting the soft strands drift through her fingers. His head shifted. Seeing his tongue flicker across her nipple at the same moment she felt the sensation sent a spike of heat through her groin. She felt herself tighten with want. She clutched at his head, breathing out his name in a ragged gasp. His head lifted, meeting her gaze with smoldering blue eyes. Without saying a word or breaking eye contact he pulled her bathing suit down over her hips as he dropped to his knees. The movement made his swimsuit tent over his groin. Smirking, Vala rubbed the side of her calf along the outline of his erection. His eyes narrowed. He lifted her leg away and shook his head.

"Ah, ah," he scolded quietly, leaning forward to graze a line of soft kisses down her belly. "this was only about you."

It took until he was nuzzling into the soft cleft between her legs, for her to fully realize what his intention was. Her throat went dry. This was one of those moments when she wanted to seize control of the situation by seducing him into forgetting about anything else except his own lust. She took in and then let out a small breath, trying to make herself relax into his touch but she couldn't stop her hands from tightening on his shoulders. Instantly his tender caresses stopped. He tilted a look up at her.

"Okay?" he asked his eyes soft with concern.

"Of course darling," she responded with a tight overly-bright smile.

He studied her for a moment. She tried grinning wider, but she knew he wasn't buying it. He'd learned to read her too well. Fixing his hands around her waist, he tugged her down to sit on the bed.

He raised a hand to brush her hair back from her face. "Do you want me to stop?"

Sighing, she bowed her head. It wasn't like she hadn't let him to do this before. It hadn't become a habit, but since the first time on their wedding night she'd allowed herself to accept it from him on occasion…she just wasn't used to it being his only goal. Losing herself in mindless physical pleasure though was what she wanted at that moment, and as her body was now recalling for her, speaking languages wasn't his only oral talent

"Vala?" he prompted quietly.

She raised her head, gave him a tremulous smile and leaned forward, pressing her mouth to his.

He drew away from her after a moment, his hands roaming gently along the curves of her hips and ass.

"So that's a 'yes' to continue?"

Her answer was to loop her arms around his neck and lean close enough to brush her torso seductively against his bare chest. She was rewarded to see his eyes dilate and darken to sapphire. Instantly his hands were heavy on her breasts, his fingers teasing her nipples into tight peaks.

"'K….takin' that as 'yes'," he mumbled, pressing nipping kisses all the way down her throat.

Vala closed her eyes, letting her hands glide over and around his torso, savouring the clench and flex of the solid, defined muscles shifting under her hands and the soft, warmth of his lips moving across her skin. His mouth closing over her breast pulled a purr of pleasure from her. The rough flick of his tongue across a nipple turned the purr to a low moan. She opened her eyes to watch him cup both her breasts in his hands and suckle at one nipple then the other while his fingers brushed repeatedly across the opposite one. The fizz of electricity coiling between her legs was making it hard to breathe. Just when she thought watching him sucking at her as she felt the sensation was about to send her over the edge he eased away, trailing open mouth kisses down her belly. She couldn't stop a whimper of frustration. She almost gave into the temptation to simply push him to the floor and mount him. Until his head dipped between her legs, his tongue grazing across the wet heat of her inner lips. The pool of liquid need twisting in her groin tightened. She could barely contain a sob of loss when his tongue moved away, licking down the tender skin of her inner thighs. Briefly she considered closing her thighs around his head to keep his mouth on her until she was dazed with pleasure, but became distracted with the sensuous sensation of him slowly mapping the length of her leg with delicate kisses. Fleeting detours to feather his tongue across the pulse behind her knee and then the heartbeat quivering at her ankle as he slipped her bathing suit off one leg had her body vibrating with lust. With languid movements that seemed designed to make her scream with frustration, he lifted her other leg. Pushing her bathing suit down off her foot to the floor, he touched lingering kisses to the tender skin around her ankle and up the inside of her leg, resting it against his shoulder as he moved.

By the time the tip of his tongue was tracing the delicate crease at the top of her thigh every nerve ending in Vala's body was straining for surrender. He nuzzled into the cloud of curls between her legs, skimming his tongue over wet, swollen flesh. A wave of sweet heat made her body buzz. She slumped back on her elbows, panting. Through eyes barely open and clouded with arousal she watched him hook her knee over his shoulder, displaying her, opening her completely to his attentions.e leH For a long moment he simply let his gaze drift over her, drinking her in. Vala wanted to scream. Watching him gaze at her with the same rapt fascination he afforded a rare and precious artifact kicked the heat churning in her groin up another notch. A stray thought slid across her brain that she had never before noticed that sex brought the same expression of intense concentration to his face as his work did. She wondered if she'd ever again be able to watch him work without getting turned on. His tongue suddenly flicking across his lips made her want to haul him down on top of her. Before she could put action to that thought he leisurely reached to touch her, his fingers gently following the folds and contours of the slick flesh between her legs.

"God, you're luscious," he rasped, slipping one firm finger into her.

She exhaled a hard breath through her nose, her eyes fluttering shut. The heavy musk of her own arousal and the liquid sound of his finger curling in and out of her engulfed her. She sank further back onto her elbows, losing all coherent thought to the exquisite tension building in her body. Mindlessly she began to shift her hips, following the retreat and thrust of his finger, torn between just wanting the sensations to go on and on and desperate for the shattering end her body was craving.

The flat of his tongue was suddenly on her flesh, licking in one long stroke from where his finger was relentlessly pushing into her to where the tiny, rigid nub lay hidden in her folds. A strangled whimper came from the back of her throat. She slit her eyes open, reaching to comb a hand through his thatch of soft, dark hair. Seeing and feeling the dip and shift of his head that matched the repeated sweeps of his tongue across her flesh almost finished her. Keening with need, she twisted her hips to follow the swipe of his tongue, desperate for his touch on the one spot aching for attention. With a hard grunt of frustration she seized his head to hold him in place at the same moment he sucked the stiff little pearl into his mouth. Vala almost came off the bed, shuddering with the white heat lancing through her. She clutched his head, groaning loudly as his tongue flickered back and forth over the little nub. She tightened her fingers in his hair, grinding herself against his mouth, moaning his name. Hi fingers suddenly tugging and twisting her nipples sent her crashing over the edge. Molten fire blasted up her spine, splintering across her brain in white light. She arched upwards with a hard, shaking groan, writhing with each aftershock his hands still fondling across her breasts sent coursing over her.

She had no idea how long she drifted, spent, boneless and sated. It could have been minutes or days. It didn't matter. She would've been happy to stay as long as possible in the bubble of contentment that surrounded her. She had never felt so thoroughly ravished and satiated before. An odd rustling sound pulled her from her trance. Reluctantly she cracked her eyes open to witness Daniel standing at the side of the bed, one knee bent on the surface, ripping open a small square package. He'd shed his swim shorts and was gloriously naked, his state of arousal pronounced. In fascination she watched him roll the sheath of plastic down over his rigid length. His eyes flickered shut and his breath quickened as his fingers lingered over several quick strokes downward to smooth the casing into place. She hadn't let him get even this far the last time. This time though, the fit of the sheath emphasized his shape, reminding her how long it had been since he'd filled her. The ache to have him moving inside her fluttered to life. She lifted her gaze to his. H eHis His eyes, hooded and almost black with arousal bore into hers.

He shook his head, "Not stopping Val," he said hoarsely, planting his hands at her waist, urging her further back on the bed.

She didn't need persuading. She shuffled backwards, easing herself flat to the bed's surface and letting her legs spread for him.

He moved onto the bed. "Gotta finish this," he growled, stretching out over her and settling into the cradle of her pelvis, "got me so hard…God, ya gushed all over my tongue," he muttered, dropping hot, open-mouth kisses along her throat, "needa be inside you…swear ta do what I gotta do when we get home…but right now…"

He entered her in a long heavy thrust.

"Ahhh… God," came out in a hard breath as he pulled out and then pushed back in another slow, deep thrust, "ohh fuucckk," dribbled out of his mouth in a hot and rough breath against her shoulder, "feels soo good….soo wet ," he lunged into her again, circling his hips, grinding against hers, "sooo fucking good."

He raised himself up on his arms far enough to offer her a soft, tender smile.

"Missed you…missed this," he whispered breathlessly, the rhythm of his pelvis striking across hers quickening.

"Me too," she said softly, leaning up to suck at his bottom lip.

His eyes closed, a low groan wafting out his mouth.

"Hey," she prodded, tapping a finger on his nose, "eyes open please…turn about's fair play after all."

His head came up and he made a show of opening his eyes.

"Better?" he smirked, the dimple in his cheek flashing.

Vala returned the smirk. "Much."

At first it felt a little like a game to her, almost a competition between them to see who would look away first. She kept expecting his eyes to flutter shut. Instead they stayed locked with hers. She tried to look away, sever the connection, but found herself more and more turned on by watching his eyes glaze over with arousal and his breath become a little more ragged each time he plunged back inside her. Then peripheral vision offered the sight of his biceps and shoulders flexing and tightening with the effort of holding himself about her; of his chest rubbing against her nipples while she felt his skin sliding over hers and the indistinct view of him thrusting into her. It was like she was watching them have sex. It was more erotic and intimate than anything she had ever done before. She wasn't sure she liked it. It had been one thing for her to watch him stroke and lick her body until she climaxed, but letting him watch her shatter around him made her feel more vulnerable to him than she'd ever allowed herself before. For a moment she considered cracking a joke or something…anything to break the tension, of what promised to be a complete surrender, building between them. She opened her mouth. Daniel repositioned his arms at the same moment shifting his angle upward. His pelvis struck across her mound. Heat throbbed between her legs. The laugh she'd been about to release turned into a choked groan. His eyes darkened with lust at the sound and he lunged into her again and again. Heavy moans tumbled from her mouth. The compulsion to grind her body against his, to rub her inner channel along his hot, rigid length blanked out any other thoughts. She wrapped her legs around his waist and bucked her hips upward to meet his. With a muffled groan, his mouth clamped onto hers, his tongue twisting into her mouth. She sucked at it, dragging her teeth across the surface. Heavy, harsh breaths flowed out his nose. His hips jerked, plunging into her, sharp and fast. She pulled away from him moments later, gasping for breath. She opened her eyes. His were barely an inch from hers, glassy black and hooded with hunger for her. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen him this mindlessly aroused before. She wasn't sure she ever had been either. She couldn't look away if she'd wanted to. All she could register was his relentless pistoning into her body, the heat in her groin coiling tighter and tighter, and the hard, hot groans they were exchanging each time their bodies ground together. She'd never experienced anything like it. They were so close they were breathing in unison, as if they were providing the air the other needed, as if they would both cease to exist if one of them stopped breathing. The effect of the sensation was to simply give herself to him. She curved up into the arc of his body, molding herself into the angles and contours of his, like puzzle pieces fitting together. The jolt of his hips grinding against her sent electric shocks racing up her spine. She tightened her legs across his ass, pulling him taut against her. He rocked into her; rough, fast strokes that made her body shake. The motion drew his eyes to the bounce of her breasts

"…fuckin'….sexy," he growled in between laboured breaths, "make… me….crazy…"

His head dropped to her chest. She watched his soft, full lips close over her nipple. The quick flick of his tongue against it was like the strike of a match. A sweet heated buzz erupted at her core. She clutched at him, moaning his name. His head lifted from her chest, his eyes, glazed with lust and love, fixed on hers. Deep groans spilled from his mouth as he pumped into her. Wave after wave of bliss, pulsating out from each fierce shove of his body into her, crashed through her. Shuddering against him, almost sobbing his name, she watched transfixed as his rough, frantic thrusts abruptly froze for a breathless second then with a sudden hard groan of her name, he lunged back into her, his body convulsing and throbbing deep inside her, his eyes losing all focus, and almost rolling back in his head.

For several long minutes there was no movement. He seemed as content to stay wrapped around her, gazing into her eyes, as she was. The only sound was the slowing and quieting of their ragged breathing. Leisurely, with a dreamy smile, she draped her arms around his neck. He responded with the rare, soft, open Jackson smile that lit his eyes like sunshine on water.

"You look like the cat that swallowed the cream."

"Mmmm," she murmured lazily, "think you were the one who actually swallowed the cream."

His smile twitched into a soft smirk. "I did," he replied, lowering his head to nuzzle gentle kisses down her throat, "and loved every moment…love the taste of you and the scent of you," he raised his head to look at her, his eyes shining with tenderness, "and love you…just _you._"

A sudden rush of gratitude and wonderment that this amazing man was truly, deeply in love with her brought a new wash of tears to her eyes. Unable to say anything past the knot in her throat she gave him a shaky smile. His brow furrowed.

"Hey why are you crying?" he said gently, wiping away one of the two tears seeping out of the corners of her eyes,

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut to stem the tears now slipping out under her eyelids.

"God Vala ," he implored sadly, "please don't sweetheart...I can't stand seeing you cry…it just about kills me…I don't know how to make this better Val…I'm s…sorry," his voice softened and caught, "this didn't work out the way we wanted… I'm sorry if I let you down."

Her tears seemed to dry instantly. Vala opened her eyes to squint at him in puzzlement.

"_You _let me down? Daniel, what are you talking about?"

He dropped his gaze, idly fiddling with the curl of her dark hair by his fingers, "You heard what Carolyn said… my test results weren't quite right either," he shrugged, "could be my…uhhh, contribution was somehow flawed."

Vala shook her head with a sigh of affectionate exasperation at the faint flicker of remorse passing across his face. If there was guilt in the air Daniel would pick it up. She touched his face to draw his eyes back to hers.

"Daniel… " she started.

"Vala," he cut her off, his forehead creasing into a frown, "Sha're and I were together for a year and we never conceived.

Abruptly he pushed himself to his feet before she could form a response.

"'Be back," he muttered, catching the top of the thin sheath between his finger and thumb, "I gotta get rid of this thing before it slips off."

She watched him stride to the bathroom. She didn't know what to say. There were words she could use to try to reassure him but in the end she would just be uttering platitudes. It couldn't be denied that being married for a year without conceiving in a society that didn't make a practice of birth control was unusual. The truth was though they would never be able to know the real reasons why this had gone wrong for them. The only thing that mattered in the end was that they were still together and as long as they had each other they'd get through this.

The concept of a nap was pulling at her when the bed dipped under his weight. She rolled onto her side, and watched him tug a t-shirt over his head.

"Daniel?"

"Mmmm?" came from inside the t-shirt.

"What did you mean earlier?"

"Pretty cryptic Val," he said absently, distracted by cleaning his glasses, "when earlier exactly?"

"When you said you'd do what you needed to do when we got home."

He paused in putting his glasses back on, then he shrugged as he stood up, pulling his shorts back on at the same time.

"Figured when we got home I'd get a referral from Dr. Lam for a doctor who does vasectomies."

She sat up, putting a hand on his hip to get his attention.

"Daniel don't we need to talk about this?"

He glanced down at her, shaking his head, "Nothing to talk about as far as I'm concerned Vala. I understand for me it's a quick 'snip, snip' in the doctor's office. For you it's major surgery."

He turned away, snagging his watch off the nightstand. "I think you've had enough people messing around with your insides," he turned back to her, holding out his hand to pull her up from the bed, "c'mon time to get some lunch…that tour out to the ruins leaves at 1.


	27. Nov 2011

_Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind._

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be.

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:** First of all my deepest apologizes that this has taken soooo long...school work has been taking my time. But I'm FINALLY finished this..uh...pivotal chapter...and just in time because Istart final exams this week and really won't be able to spare it any thought for the next week...and then it'll be Christmas and then I probably wouldn't be able to get back to posting until the new year...okay shutting up now.

UH...lessee...this is dated November therefore both b-days have passed so Daniel is 46 and Vala is 40.

So enjoy...hope everyone is happy with the way I've resolved their 'situation'...of course it was obvious but I also thought it was fitting

* * *

**November, 2011**

"Grab my hands! Daniel shouted over the roaring torrent.

The woman focused eyes, huge with fear, on his outstretched hands. She lifted one hand away from the branch she was clinging too and made to reach out to him. A swell of sludge hit the tree she'd found refuge in. Frantically she scrabbled for the branch again. She stared at him in terror. Carefully he eased closer to the edge of the embankment and stuck out his hands again.

"Try again." he yelled.

She blinked against the rain streaming down her face. Her gaze shifted restlessly from the mess that had almost reached the branch she was on, to Daniel, then to the group of people huddled on the flatland behind him. She suddenly gave him a sad tremulous smile and shook her head. Frowning fiercely he gestured for her to reach for his hands. Biting her lip with obvious tears in her eyes she shook her head again and simply pointed at the wall of muck bearing down on them. He stared at her in dread.

"You have to try." he screamed.

She shook her head, gestured at the group behind him and then let go of the branch. She was gone in an instant. Daniel stared, incredulous. A screech of "_gigia_" from behind him was just audible over the thunder of the flow. He lurched backwards on the wet ground, watching an upsurge of fluid rip away the outcropping of bank he'd just been standing on. New screams of panic reached his ears. He scrambled further back from the edge, gesturing with a hand over his shoulder at the group behind him that he was okay. Running a hand over his face to wipe away the rain, he heaved himself to his feet, cast a last look at the river of mud cascading through the valley and turned to slog his way back to the group sheltering under emergency blankets.

**Hours later**

Daniel stumbled through the 'gate dropping to one knee as the wormhole behind him disconnected with a 'whoosh'.

Gasping to catch his breath he loosened the grip he had on the child in his arms to gesture over his head at the 'gate with a circling motion. Almost instantly the iris scraped shut. There was barely a moment of silence before a concerned, "Dr. Jackson?" came from the control room accompanied by a winded anxious "Daniel?" from Vala.

Casting a quick glance up at the control room then over to Vala, standing half on and half off the ramp with a small blonde girl in her arms, he shook his head, waving away their concern with his free hand.

"'m fine…leg cramp 's all…s'okay now."

He pushed himself to stand, easing the child downward to encourage him to stand also.

The boy's arms tightened around his neck. Daniel went back onto his knees to look the young boy in the eye.

"Andreas, you go with Cybele and Vala now. _Parakalo_?"

The boy's grip around Daniel's neck just tightened further.

Daniel looked up over Andreas's dark hair to General Landry in the control room.

"Sorry sir, this has all been pretty traumatizing for everyone."

Landry nodded with a sympathetic smile. "Understandable Doctor, I'm quite willing to leave the debrief until everyone is dry and feed…perhaps tomorrow would be even better."

Shifting the boy into a more comfortable position Daniel stood, nodding.

"Yes sir. I think so too…we could all do with a good night's sleep."

"Very good then Doctor, we'll debrief at 0900 tomorrow."

Daniel threw a grateful smile up at Landry as he walked down and off the ramp.

"Thank you, sir. See you in the morning."

Boosting the boy higher onto his hip, Daniel followed Vala and the boy's younger sister out of the 'gate room, leaving behind a trail of mud.

**SGC Infirmary**

The infirmary was in a state of diminishing chaos when Daniel arrived behind Vala, the young boy still clutching onto him like a lifeline. The din of voices was a low roar. With a weary sigh Daniel half propped himself against the only unoccupied bed. An average looking woman with mousy brown hair in a nurse's uniform intent on the clipboard in her hands looked up at their entrance. Pausing long enough to retrieve two pieces of blue material from a nearby table she made her way across the room to them.

"Good to see you both back safely," she offered a smile, "Can I assume that these are the last two" she reached, laying a gentle hand on the little girl's sandy blonde hair.

The child turned away from the touch, burying her face in Vala's neck.

"Yeah they are." Daniel sighed tiredly, leaning heavily against the bed and shifting the boy again.

"Okay then," the nurse nodded, studying the children with a medical eye, "Any injuries?"

Daniel's mute head shake matched his wife's.

"Good, so that means their medical can wait until they're clean. So you can take these," she handed the mass of fabric to Vala and then handed the clipboard to Daniel, "and you can use this to find their family."

Sadly shaking his head in silence, Daniel handed the clipboard back to her.

The nurse stared at him for a second before the implication of his actions dawned on her.

"Oh," she said quietly, her brow puckered with concern, "okay, I guess you two are in charge of getting them cleaned up then"

**SGC Showers**

Daniel pulled his locker open, pausing briefly in thought before he extracted from the top shelf a bottle of shampoo and a small plastic soap holder. He turned, looking down at the young boy sitting uneasily on the hard wooden bench in the space between the lockers. Kid looked so forlorn and lost. A familiar ache in Daniel's stomach twisted in sympathy. He knelt on the floor in front of Andreas, reaching to undo the mud encrusted lacings of the child's boots. With the footwear removed, Daniel prompted the boy to stand.

"You can do the rest yourself?" he asked gently, looking directly into the boy's tired blue eyes.

Giving his head a vague nod, Andreas started undressing by shrugging out of a heavy woven coat that was streaked with mud and still damp.

Relieved that the boy wasn't quite as catatonic as he appeared Daniel stood and began shedding his muddy BDUs. He was hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his briefs to push them down his legs when he suddenly realized what he was about to do. Being unclothed and washing in communal showers with other males had always made him feel awkward. He'd gradually gotten used to it in these particular surroundings, but everyone he shared these showers with were adult males. The sudden idea of being completely naked in front of this young boy made him extremely uncomfortable. In a fully ancient Greek culture there would have been no question that Andreas would've been comfortable around nude adult males, but Daniel had noted enough differences in what Andreas's society considered acceptable behavior to be unsure whether it was likely the boy had ever seen his father's adult body.

Deciding that caution was the best choice here, Daniel left his briefs on. Andreas's own discomfort seemed to confirm Daniel's hesitation. The boy had discarded all his clothing except for a thin fabric garment that was obviously his society's equivalent of boxer shorts. He stood beside the wooden bench looking up at Daniel with deep uncertainty. Daniel sat down on the bench to bring them eye to eye.

"Yeah I know, but I think we're the last ones, so it should be okay to take them off."

Andreas's forehead creased in thought as if weighing the situation.

"If you wanna leave them on that's okay too," Daniel said softly, "but they will be wet when we're done and I don't have anything to replace them with."

The boy's head tilted as he considered Daniel's words.

"On the other hand if you take them off now, they'll still be dry for afterward."

Suddenly giving Daniel a small smile of understanding, Andreas pushed the garment to the floor.

Standing up, Daniel patted the boy's thin, shivery shoulders and steered him towards the showers. Andreas's continuing uncertainty in the situation only allowed for Daniel washing his dark wavy hair. Beyond that the boy insisted on using the soap for himself.

The silence between them while they washed off two days of mud and dirt had an odd comfort to it. The boy seemed to be lost in trying to process the abrupt upheaval of his life. Daniel was simply relishing the silence after spending the previous few days battling to make himself heard over the rushing of the wind, the constant pelting of the dirty rain and rumblings of the volcano.

Back in the locker area a while later, clean and wrapped in ratty dark blue robe, Daniel retrieved from his locker the jeans and sweatshirt he had exchanged for BDUs almost 5 days earlier. Turning he threw a glance at Andreas. A pang of hurt twisted in his gut at the expression on the boy's face. Despite no longer being dirty and bedraggled, the child still looked shell-shocked and lost. The tightness with which he had his lips pressed together betrayed how hard he was working at not breaking into tears. Pausing to grab from his locker one of the other pair of clean socks he kept for emergencies, Daniel knelt on the floor in front of Andreas. It was not likely that something that fit his adult feet were going to be anything but huge on a 9 year old, but it would be better than bare feet on the concrete floors for the walk back to the infirmary. Daniel tugged the last sock in position, almost to the child's knees, sat back on his haunches and raised his eyes to Andreas's. Daniel felt his heart drop into his stomach at the shimmer of tears in the boy's eyes.

"Why did she do that?" came out of the child's mouth barely above a shaky whisper.

Daniel looked down, focusing on a stray thread at the top of the socks while he tried to find words to explain the actions of the child's grandmother.

"Didn't she love us anymore?"

Daniel looked up sharply. The anguish in the little boy's eyes made his heart hurt.

"God no Andreas," he said shaking his head emphatically, "you mustn't think that. For the time I knew her, she obviously loved you and Cybele very much."

"Then why did…," the boy broke off abruptly, his face crumbling into tears.

He launched himself forward, trying to bury himself against Daniel's chest. Daniel folded his arms around the child, allowing the boy to let out the tears he'd been holding in check for the last two days.

Sighing Daniel lifted a hand to the child's head, resting it on the silky dark hair.

"Because she did love you…she was choosing what she thought best for you."

Andreas raised his head, his brow creased with confusion.

"I know, Daniel said softly, "sometimes adults do things that kids don't understand," a sudden flash across his brain of his own grandfather's face pulled a breath of air from him, "believe me I know, but they only try to do what they believe is best for the kid. And I think"he continued, thoughtfully, "I think your grandmother was doing what she thought was best to make sure that you and Cybele would be safe. I think she was afraid that if I risked too much of my own safety to help her that she and I might both be caught in the mud…and that might mean that you and your sister wouldn't be safe. Does that make any more sense to you?"

Andreas's brow furrowed deeper, but he nodded.

"I know how hard this is," Daniel said gently, using a corner of the towel wrapped around Andreas to blot at the tears still tracking down the child's face, "but you're not alone…you've still got Cybele…and she's going to depend on you a lot…and I'm sure a lot of your friends made it through the 'gate with us too, …who knows maybe once we've got everyone re-settled in a few weeks, you'll be able to be to live with one of their families, which might be kinda neat doncha think?"

Andreas looked at him in puzzlement. "Might be neat?"

Daniel chuckled. "Sorry…just an expression in English… means that it might be …uhh 'fun'."

Andreas sat back on the bench with a shrug. He didn't look convinced. Sighing Daniel leaned forward on his knees to reach for the pile of blue fabric also on the bench, his chest tight with the memory of how much 'fun' it'd been to suddenly be without a family. He shook the folds out of a scrub shirt that would easily reach down to Andreas's knees.

"C'mon," he handed the garment to the boy, "don't know about you but I'm tired and I'm hungry…let's get dressed and get the medical stuff done, so we can find some food and a place to sleep."

With a slight nod Andreas took the shirt, stood up, dropped the garment over his head and let the towel that had been wrapped around his body slide to the floor. He then sat back down on the bench and reached for his version of boxer shorts that he'd left on the bench earlier. He tilted a questionning look up at Daniel.

Raising his hands in mock surrender, Daniel let a faint smirk pass across his mouth.

"Right…I'll just go over here and get dressed myself."

**Infirmary – Round Two**

Daniel pulled his glasses off and rubbed his fingers into his eyes. Yawning he let his head drop forward, rolling his neck and shoulders to ease tense muscles. He was exhausted. All he wanted in the next hour was food, drink and his bed.

"You okay?"

He lifted his head to focus on the fuzzy outline of Carolyn Lam.

He nodded, slipping his glasses back into place "Uh…yeah I'm fine."

She tilted one fine, dark eyebrow at him. "Daniel?"

He grimaced, wishing that people would believe him when he said he was fine.

"Yes Carolyn. I'm fine…just tired."

"That was some stumble you took coming through the gate."

He shrugged with a grimace. "I came into the 'gate on '712 at a run, I was overbalanced because of Andreas, and my leg cramped…probably because I've been on the move for the last 5 days. That's all. I'm fine. And I'll be even better in the morning when I've had a full nights' sleep."

Carolyn sighed. "Well I'm afraid that may not be tonight."

Daniel squinted at her. "Umm…why?"

"We had a situation develop with SG-5 and 17 a few hours before your people started arriving and I had to use the beds we had set up in observation room 1 to quarantine both teams for the next 24 hours. I don't know if they just all suffering from food poisoning or if it's a real virus, but I didn't want to be taking a chance on exposing your refugees to some unknown virus from another planet."

Daniel nodded. "Right…understandable…but what's that got to do with my sleep?"

"Well, now we've got a slight bed shortage for your refugees. Lieutenant Sayles," the doctor nodded in the direction of the nurse who sent Daniel and Vala to the showers with their charges earlier, "has done some rearranging of people and has given VIP quarters to one of the town elders and two of the young couples, but she's been unable to find a spot for the kids you brought in. I'd like to leave them with you and Vala for the night…the only other options would be putting them into a VIP room by themselves or separating them…and after what I understand they've been through I don't like either of those options."

Sighing, Daniel gazed over Carolyn's shoulder at Vala distracting the two young children while Lieutenant Sayles extracted blood from Andreas's arm.

"Yeah…" he said softly, "they have been through enough…they shouldn't be sleeping alone and they definitely shouldn't be separated.

"So they can stay with you two tonight? I'm almost positive it'll only be for tonight…once 5 and 17 are out of quarantine then the problem should be cleared up."

He brought his attention back to her. He gave her a small smile.

"Yeah it'll be fine."

**SGC VIP Guest Quarters.**

"Daniel?" her voice came low and soft from the other side of the bed.

"Hmmm?" he was too tired manage anything else.

"How was Cassandra's adoption arranged?"

"Nothin' to arrange," he mumbled, "kinda a foregone conclusion…no else left 'live on her planet."

"Oh."

There was a very long silence during which he pretended to not know, without a doubt, how her mind was working.

"Daniel," her voice came out of the darkness again.

"No, Vala," was the automatic answer to the question he knew was coming next.

"Daniel, that's not fair," she huffed with a slight whine, "I haven't even said anything yet."

"Don't have to. Known you for almost seven years…been married to you for almost three of those…not that hard for me to figure out what you're thinkin' 'bout."

There was another silence. Reaching carefully through the darkness to avoid disturbing the children sleeping between them, he laid a gentle hand on her arm.

"Look," he said softly, "I know these last six months have been hard…and with Sam due in a couple of months I know it's not going to get any easier any time soon, but as an anthropologist I can't sanction removing two children from their societal group because we're hurting."

Her reply, after a short silence, was testy.

"Oh but you can sanction leaving two young children without a proper family?"

He pushed himself, gently to not disturb their bedmates, up on his elbow and glared at her.  
"Vala!" he almost hissed, "I am NOT the one to play that card to. I KNOW all too well what that's like, but adoption is not something to be done on a whim. I have more experience than I want to remember with how much it hurts from the kid's side when it doesn't work out and I have ZERO interest in finding out that it's just as painful from the adult point of view too! Now! I am done with this conversation! I'm going to sleep."

Daniel eased himself back down to the mattress, the oh-so-familiar stab for everything he'd lost twisting in his chest. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to push the ache away.

"Probably be better all round, if after tonight we keep our distance…if we don't, it'll be that much harder when the relocation is completed." he finished into the darkness.

There was no response.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, reaching out again to touch her arm, "but it'll be for the best." The faint tremor vibrating her body was barely noticeable. He felt it though; all the way up his arm and into his heart.

'**Gate Room – three weeks later**

Daniel leaned a hip against the frame of the large debriefing room window overlooking the 'gateroom. Folding his arms across his chest, he watched the coming and going in the cavernous room below him of SGC personnel and the remaining refugees from M4E 712 with a sort of grim satisfaction. At least the relocation process was going off without a hitch. The original evacuation portion of this operation had started going south almost the moment they stepped onto '712. The volcano had erupted long before the evacuation team had the townspeople anywhere close to the Stargate. The resulting avalanche of boiling mud and ash down the mountain caught them unawares, resulting in the loss of far too many townspeople and SGC personnel.

He watched a mixed group of children ranging from young teenagers to a one year old perched on her sisters' hip and SGC personnel arrive in the 'gate room. The vast majority of the evacuees over the age of 16 were occupied on the planet they were relocating to organizing and constructing the new settlement, leaving all the children under 16 in the care of a few mothers with infants and two or three women of the SGC. One of whom was Vala.

He knew that once the relocation was complete he was going to regret not insisting harder that she not get involved, but he hadn't been able to find it in himself to do so. She had been smiling more in the last three weeks than she smiled since…he sighed deeply at the wave of sadness that washed over him. The last few months had been hard. Not only had he lost his son, but at times it almost felt like he was losing Vala too…losing the vital part of her that kept him from suffocating in his own too serious nature.

Deep in his thoughts he didn't hear the activity behind him from General Landry's office. The voice suddenly at his side made him jump. He turned to focus on the owner of the voice. The elderly gentleman beside him never failed to remind of him of the man Adria had impersonated on the planet where they'd found the Sangraal. The resemblance was faintly unnerving.

"Solon," he straightened away from the window with a smile, "sorry…just watching," he nodded down at the activity in the gate room, "got a little lost in my own thoughts I'm afraid…what did you say?"

"I was just wanting to say e_fharisto _Dr. Jackson," the older man smiled, "you and your people have been more than generous…your help has been very much appreciated."

"You are more than welcome Elder...I regret that we weren't able to anticipate that final eruption better than we did though…we lost far too many people."

Solon shook his head. "Nothing is infallible Dr. Jackson. Without your help I don't doubt that many more of our town would have been lost…and I know for a fact that we wouldn't be getting a chance to rebuild somewhere safer, and for that we are grateful, so again_ efharisto_."

The Stargate beginning to spin interrupted before Daniel could respond. Solon looked towards it for an instant then turned back to Daniel suddenly thrusting out his hand with a smile. "I understand this is your culture's parting gesture."

Nodding Daniel took the proffered hand.

"It is," he said returning the smile.

The older man's other hand folded around their clasped hands.

"_Ya-sou _Dr. Jackson, although I'm sure we will be continuing to see you and Vala while we are settling into our new home."

Daniel shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not, we're not part of your relocation team."

Dropping Daniel's hand Solon made a faint movement of surprise.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that…that is a shame…the children will be disappointed I'm sure. She's very good with them," the older man gestured with his head at Vala in the gateroom, seemingly enthralled in the animated conversation of a 6 year old boy, "she must be an excellent mother."

The wave of sadness swept over Daniel again, bringing sudden moisture to his eyes. Pushing his hands into his pants pockets, he stared down at his wife.

"She's never had the chance," he said quietly, watching her swing a little dark-haired girl up into her arms.

"Oh!"came the startled response from beside him, "I thought you had children."

"Uhh…no," with small shrug and tight smile Daniel slowly raised his gaze from watching Vala to meet Solon's eyes, "it hasn't been possible."

The wormhole springing to life saved him from further conversation on that topic.

Stepping away from the window Daniel motioned the elderly man towards the stairs leading down to the gateroom. "Shall we go?"

Their arrival in the gateroom a few moments later was lost in the commotion of children excited to be returning to their families. Vala offered a brilliant smile as they came to stand beside her.

"Hello darling," she stretched up to plant a quick kiss to Daniel's cheek.

"Hi," he replied, settling a hand at her waist as she stepped forward to place to a kiss on Solon's cheek also.

"Solon," she greeted with pleasure.

"My dear," the older man returned, pressing a kiss to her cheek, "I'm disappointed to learn that you will not be visiting us."

"Yes well you know," Vala said with an airy gesture of her hand, stepping back into Daniel's personal space to sling her arm around his waist, "I'm afraid my skills are too valuable here, I can't be spared."

Solon laughed. "Of that I have no doubt my dear, but I know the children will miss you."

Daniel watched her turn her gaze to the children congregated on the ramp waiting to go home to their families. He watched her lips narrow and press together.

"And I'll miss them," she said tightly.

Daniel swallowed a sigh. This was going to be too hard for her. He was an idiot. He should've never let her get away with not listening to his warning about getting too close. He'd always let her get away with things just because he needed that brilliant smile in his life. Letting her get away with this though had just set her up for more hurt. A sharp cry of "Dan-el" from amongst the children focused his attention in just enough time to not be stunned by the force of a small body tackling his legs. He looked down into the 6-year old's wide blue-grey eyes.

"Hi Cybele," he smiled.

"We're going home!" she said, grinning brightly and pointing at the shimmering blue wormhole

"I know. Are you happy about that? " he responded hoisting her up into his arms

She nodded emphatically. "An' you an' Vala can come and visit." she suddenly leaned close and planted a big kiss on his cheek, "y_a-sou._"

She was out of his arms and tearing back up ramp to join the others as they started walking into the event horizon before he could tell her that they wouldn't be coming to visit. A heavy-hearted pang as he watched both Cybele and Andreas stop to wave just before they stepped through the 'gate suggested that he might not have heeded his own warnings either.

'And now I believe it's time for me to go as well." Solon said, pulling Daniel's attention from watching the last of the children disappear into the event horizon.

Crossing his right arm diagonally across his chest, the elderly man bowed his head forward for a moment.

"_E__fharisto_," he said, raising his head to smile at them both, "y_a-sou_."

Daniel glanced down at Vala while the older man made his way up the gate ramp. Her silence and stillness when Cybele had launched herself at him, along with the present tightness of her expression told him everything he needed to know. He curved his arm around her shoulders and nestled her in against him.

"Okay?" he murmured, watching her carefully.

She nodded without looking up at him. He knew exactly what he would've seen if she had. Her eyes would've been moist and she would've been flashing her brilliant fake smile at him in a desperate attempt to not give away that her eyes were filled with tears. He shut his own eyes for moment and breathed a word to any 'deities' that might actually exist that he wasn't going to regret what he was about to do.

"Ya know," he sighed with shrug, "maybe we could make a visit occasionally."

She cocked her head back to meet his eyes with a look of puzzlement.

He shrugged again. "Uhh...you know…to…uhh...make sure that everything is working out for the town…I mean we worked so hard to get them away from that volca…"he trailed off at the smirk spreading across Vala's mouth.

Stretching up to him, she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"I love you," she breathed against his skin.

'I love you too," he said tightening his arm around her shoulder in quick hug, "but we have to go slow."

She leaned away from him, her trademark smirk of pleasure settling on her mouth

Daniel eyed her seriously. "Okay? So no rushing into anything and we all have to be agreed that it's what we all want."

"Yes Daniel," she sighed softly, leaning the side of her head against his shoulder and hugging him.

Tightening his arm around her shoulder he tilted the side of his head down to rest against hers and said yet another word of hope to anyone or anything that might have any real 'god-like' powers that taking this step wasn't going to end up tearing her apart all over again.

~ 11 ~


	28. Feb 2012 May 2013

Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind.

**Title**: "…the Best is Yet to Be."

**Summary: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."** – Robert Browning.

These will be a series of vignettes creating 30 years of life together.

**Spoilers**: Everything that has aired up to this point is fair game. Any references to the DVDs will be noted in the Author's Notes.

**Pairings**: Daniel/Vala, obviously, Sam/Jack at some point and Cam/someone implied.

**Rating**: Now "M". Will remain "M" for the duration of the story.

**Genre**: Drama/Angst/Humour/Romance…the only genre that won't apply here would be 'slash'.

**A/N:**

So I decided to split the 2012-2014 time period into two chapters…what I'm posting right now has a grand total of over 9000 words…if I was to post all of 2012-2014 as one chapter there would be easily over 10,000 words…that's way too much at once.

So this is mostly a reposting but there is a new segment at the end.

Enjoy…oh and I think I've corrected any calculation errors I might have made in the ages.

**Feb 2012** (46&41, 6&9)

Greek/English Glossary

_anapavla _– a rest

_Ya sou_ - hello, hi, goodbye

_p__aidia_ - children

_yiothetisi – _adoption

_dysi – _west

_noto - _south

_cheimonas - _winter

_psari_- fish

_psarema_ - fishing

_e__fharisto – _thank you

_n__ai - yes_

_e__ndaksee – _okay

_agkistro - _hook

_spagkos _-string

"Dr Jackson! Vala!" Solon swept forward to the bottom of the steps leading from the stargate, greeting them with out-stretched hands and a warm kiss to Vala's cheek, "_k__alosorisma…kalosorisma. _It is good to see you both, but to what do we owe this pleasure? You seemed quite adamant Dr. Jackson that you wouldn't be visiting us."

"Yes well we…" Daniel began.

"We've come looking for respite actually," Vala jumped in hooking her hand through the older man's arm.

"Respite?" Solon threw a questioning look at Daniel.

"Uhh…_anapavla_…a rest…a break"

"Yes," Vala jumped in again as she turned Solon back towards the encampment, "a break. Work has been running us ragged lately and as SG15 is unable to be here I volunteered us to do the weekly check-in with the relocation team since Daniel won't leave his dusty books to take me to some tropical locale with exotic…"

Sighing Daniel picked up the backpack she'd dropped on the ground at the bottom of the steps and followed after them, her continuing chatter only faintly audible.

She hadn't been completely exaggerating. Work had been running them ragged lately…well her mostly. His workload hadn't been anything beyond the usual of directing the work of the anthropology/archeology dept and specifically the off-world archeological team. Hers, on the other hand, had become a succession of strategy briefings and off-world excursions. Her knowledge of the politics at play in the Lucien Alliance and her connections with the seedier side of the galaxy had become vital in the SGC's efforts to bring Alliance down. He hated that she was being valued for who she had been instead of who she was now, but she had important intel and it was keeping her too busy to dwell on the imminent arrival of Sam and Jack's baby. Which was also the reason he'd agreed to fill in for SG15 on this trip to do the regular weekly check-in with the relocation team. He hoped that giving themselves this opportunity to start finding their way with Andreas and Cybele would help Vala cope with the fact that Sam's delivery by caesarean was scheduled for the next day. It also didn't hurt that this settlement was in the summer side of the planet's cycle around its sun while Colorado Springs was in the midst of a January cold snap.

So it was a very pleasant bone-warming thirty minute walk from the 'gate to the new settlement through meadows of wildflowers and a forest alive with creatures, but he was sweating in the mid-morning sun by the time they got there. He was more than ready to drop the backpacks and shuck his TAC vest.

Their unexpected presence with Solon was met with excited high-pitched squeals of "Vala" as all the children who noticed them swarmed towards them. A tiny figure with sandy blonde hair disengaging from the rest of the pack came hurtling towards them, launching herself into Vala's arms.

"_Yasou,_ _yasou_," the little girl beamed, planting her pudgy hands on both sides of Vala's face before pressing smacking kisses to Vala's cheeks.

"Y_asou_ Cybele, _yasou_," Vala laughed returning the kisses.

Daniel watched the display of affection with a satisfaction. Taking this chance might work out after all. He leaned into their embrace with a smile.

"_Yasou_ Cybele," he singsonged softly.

Turning her head to him with a brilliant smile, the little girl unwound her arms from around Vala's neck, and lurched slightly in Vala's embrace to fling her arms around Daniel's neck.

"Dan-el," she breathed happily before bestowing a huge kiss to his cheek.

"_P__aidia, paidia,"_ Solon admonished, wading into the children clustered around them, "Daniel and Vala are here to see how the building is going, not to visit with all of you…now run along, perhaps later they will have some time to visit," he reached to extract Cybele from Vala's arms, "that means you too little one."

Shaking her head Vala shifted Cybele onto her hip. "She's fine Solon, I don't mind her staying with me."

Solon frowned, "But the building site isn't safe for her."

"Well then that's not a problem since I wasn't planning on going there. I'm going to leave it to my handsome husband to check in with Colonel Abbott while I visit with all the ladies to see what, now that they are more settled, they need to make their lives easier."

"Oh," Solon seemed startled by the notion of consulting with the women about their needs, "yes of course," he looked over at Daniel, gesturing towards to the path leading away from the cluster of tents, "then shall we Dr. Jackson?"

Nodding Daniel slung his backpack onto his shoulder again and fell into step beside the older man. Their trek took them across a flatland to a slope leading to a plateau.

"I didn't notice Andreas among the other children," Daniel asked as they started up the slope.

Solon cast a quick glance at him with a sigh, "I'm afraid Andreas is finding the current situation difficult. He's proving to be not as adaptive as his sister…he spends a lot of time by himself." e He

Daniel pushed down a sudden pang of empathic loneliness. Sometimes it still surprised him, how quickly, after so many years, the pain of his own loss could resurface.

"Do you know where he goes?" he said tightly.

Solon shook his head, "I don't but I would think Cybele and the family the two of them are living with does."

The older man cast a considering glance at Daniel, "I must say I'm a little surprised that you noted his absence. I wasn't aware that you had that strong a connection with him."

Daniel shrugged, "His grandmother entrusted Vala and I with their safety. That's not something I can dismiss easily."

Daniel felt Solon studying him.

"No I don't imagine you could," the older man said quietly.

"And in light of that there's a request I'd like to make."

"Oh…and that would be?"

"Uhh…well, aside from doing the check-in with Colonel Abbott today in place of SG15, Vala and I made this excursion in the hopes of beginning to explore the possibility of offering Cybele and Andreas a place in our home."

Solon stopped in his tracks and regarded Daniel in surprise. "_Yiothetisi_?

"Yes," Daniel nodded, doing a quick mental translation to make sure they were meaning the same thing.

Solon frowned, "That's not an offer that should be made lightly Dr. Jackson."

"I agree," Daniel said, again falling into step beside the other man as they continued up the slope, "and believe me I was opposed to it the first time Vala suggested it, but…," Daniel paused as the sorrow from the past year swept over him.

"Well," he continued with a deep sigh, "this hasn't been an easy year…the happiest I've seen Vala was while she was with the children during your stay at the SGC…"

"Forgive me Dr. Jackson," Solon jumped in, "but I don't see that is enough of a reason to remove two children from their native society."

"No, of course not…again I agree" Daniel returned hastily, his gaze focused on the uneven ground under his feet, "and believe me I wouldn't pursue this if that was the sole reason, but I," the older and fainter ache of loss came back with a vengeance. It made his breath catch.

He swallowed it back. Too many losses in a lifetime. Was he really willing to take this chance?

"You're what?" Solon had stopped in the middle of the slope, waiting for him to continue.

Daniel took a breath. He'd suspected that the topic of his own childhood was going to prove relevant; he just hoped he wasn't going to have to go in to details.

"I...know what this is like for them…my...uhh" he paused again, restlessly scanning their surroundings while he searched for the words to say what he needed to as succinctly as possible, "my own parents died when I was about Andreas's age…so I know…I know what it's like to suddenly lose your family." Daniel brought his gaze to Solon's, "Vala and I'd like to try to give that back to them."

Solon blinked at him for an instant and then shook his head.

"That is a most generous offer Dr. Jackson. I'm not sure what to say. Are your asking for my agreement?"

"No, no, not at all. At this point all I'm asking is if you could arrange for us to speak to the other elders. I told Vala that we wouldn't be pursuing this without the agreement of all the town leaders.

Solon tilted a quizzical look at him, "Nor without the children's either, I presume."

Daniel flashed a sheepish smile, "No, of course, that goes without saying. Obviously the children's wishes would be the most important factor."

Solon studied him for a moment then nodded, "Very well Dr. Jackson…as I have said before your generosity of spirit never fails to amaze me. I will pass your request onto the others and then let you know when you can meet with us."

"_Efharisto_ Solon, that is all I ask."

"You are most welcome Daniel." Solon said with a faint bow.

"Now," the older man gestured ahead of them with a sweep of his hand, "shall we find Col. Abbott. Perhaps if he is able to complete his report to you before the mid-day meal you will have some time to visit with the children before you are expected back at the SGC."

Nodding Daniel fell into step beside the older man again. Directly ahead of them ten or so small structures in varying stages of construction were spread across a flatland dotted by groves of trees.

"This is an excellent site," Daniel observed throwing a backward glance over his shoulder in the direction they'd come.

"Yes it is. Your," Solon paused to look at Daniel with a questioning tilt to his eyebrow, "engineers?"

"…were insistent that we not build directly beside the river," he continued at Daniel's nod that he'd used the correct word.

"Yeah it's never a good idea to build beside a river. As beautiful or convenient as it might be we know nothing about this one's history of flooding or even what _cheimonas _is like here. The Argosians live further _dysi_ and _noto _where it's warmer and drier so they know nothing about the climate is different here. We could make a guess based on similar locales on Earth but guesses could still result in further losses that I imagine your people would rather not have."

"No, we wouldn't, we're lost enough people. It is good that your 'engineers' have been able to find a source of water underground so living away from the river will be easier. In fact I understand we will be able to have a source of water right inside each house."

"Good to hear. That was always the plan but it wasn't possible to be sure until it was known how far from the surface a source of water would be found…glad to hear that it's close enough to allow you to have indoor pumps. "

"As are we. It'll be quite a luxury since, as I'm sure you'll recall, what we had on Acroplia were communal wells throughout the town."

A shout from a Quonset hut they were passing by detoured them off the track they had been following to the building site. A stocky man in fatigues jogged across the rough grassland towards them.

"Daniel!" the man greeted with an outstretched hand as he came to a stop before them, "good to see you although you're not who I was expecting. Where are Stanford and company?"

"Good to see you too Brian," Daniel said returning the quick hand shake, "uhh…Stanford and his team are still P2B 247."

Abbott's blonde eyebrows puckered with concern."

"They okay?"

"Oh yeah. Their route back to the 'gate got cut off by a rockslide is all. They figure it's going to take them a couple of extra days to detour around it. So you're stuck with Vala and me instead," he finished with a shrug and wide toothless smile

Abbott snorted a laugh. "I think we can cope with that," he flung a hand in the direction of the building site, "c'mon, we'll take a tour around and then we can come back here and do the official stuff."

By the time Col. Abbot's radio crackled to summon the building crew to the mid-day meal Daniel had had transferred the contents of several USB drives to his laptop, seen all the dwellings under construction, and the plans for the remaining required dwellings along with storage buildings and a kiln for making pottery.

Lunch was a thick and tasty meat stew encased in triangles of flaky dough. He enjoyed three or four of them, along with the coffee he'd brought to replenish the relocation teams' supply. The continuing non-appearance of Andreas though had him more than a little concerned. He was about to express that concern when he noticed the mother of the family the two children were living with handing Cybele a cloth bundle. Intently he watched the girl take the bundle in her arms and skip over to where Vala sat talking with the other women of the encampment. Nodding at whatever the girl said to her, Vala gestured in his direction. Cybele turned and giving him a big smile, she seized Vala's hand and pulled her over to him.

"We're apparently taking lunch to Andreas," Vala said holding out her other hand to him," coming with us?"

"Yup. You bet," he smiled, letting them pull him to his feet.

They followed a path meandering by the river for almost thirty minutes until they came to a curve where the river widened and the current slowed. A strip of pebbles merging into larger rocks bordered the edges of the river. A lone figure sat, facing away from them, on a boulder pitching pebbles into the river. Daniel's throat tightened at a sudden memory of sitting by himself on a swing kicking at pieces of ice and snow in the deserted playground behind the orphanage. Sighing he crouched down beside Cybele.

"Is it okay with you if I take this to him by myself?" he said softly, touching the bundle in her arms.

The little girl studied him for a moment then nodded.

"_E__fharisto," _he said leaning over to press a gentle kiss on her cheek_. _

"So," he stood, taking the bundle from her, "you go with Vala back to the camp _endaksee?_ Andreas and I will come back later. _Nai_?

She nodded again and tucked her hand into Vala's.

Daniel watched them until they disappeared back around the curve of the river. Taking a deep breath he wound his way around the boulders towards the young boy sitting alone on a rock.

"_Yasou_." Daniel said quietly when he felt close enough for Andreas to hear him.

The boy paused as he was about to toss another pebble into the water to glance over his shoulder.

"Oh…_yasou_," he said tonelessly, turning back to sling the stone into the water, "didn't think you were going to be coming here."

Daniel took a seat on an adjacent boulder. "Yeah well we weren't supposed to be but the team that was supposed to be here today is stuck on another planet so Vala and I decided that filling in would give us a chance to see everyone again."

The boy nodded silently and threw another stone into the water.

"Here," Daniel leaned forward to offer the cloth bundle, "brought some food for you."

Andreas looked over to the packet in Daniel's hands, shot a quick uncertain glance at him then took the packet from him and carefully balanced it on his knees. Folding back the corners of the large piece of cloth revealed another smaller packet of cloth and one of the small metal bottles the SGC had supplied to the evacuees. A tantalizing aroma wafted up from the smaller packet. Without sparing a glance at Daniel, Andreas dove into the packet, downing the pastries between chugs of liquid from the bottle.

Daniel bit back a small sad smile at the memory of purposefully missing meals at the orphanage to avoid being reminded of what he'd lost, only to fall on food offered later like a starving wolf. Exhaling a long breath he gazed at the river, wishing for some sort of inspiration to initiate a conversation. Sudden movement in the water caught his attention. He studied the spot where the disturbance had been, hoping that it'd been either an animal of the non-threatening type or a fish. He smiled with satisfaction at the last thought.

"It's very quiet here," he said, breaking the silence, "is this a good place to fish?"

Andreas stopped with a mouthful of food and directed a puzzled frown at him.

Daniel pursed his lips in thought for moment.

"Umm…_psari…_ do you and the other boys catch _psari_ here?"

Swallowing Andreas shook his head. "They do. I don't."

"Ah," Daniel nodded with a smile, "you don't like…um" he paused to find the word,"…uh…_psarema_?"

Andreas made a face and shook his head.

Daniel chuckled. "Yeah…it's not my thing either. My friend Jack though carries a…_agkistro _ and… _spagkos _with him wherever he goes. I can't remember how many times while we were visiting other planets when he used them because he didn't want to eat the MREs we had with us."

He suppressed another chuckle at the expression of distaste that passed over Andreas's face at the mention of MREs. Obviously the memory of eating those while they were trying to escape the volcanic eruption on his home planet was still fresh.

"What I like to do though is explore. Do you?" Daniel glanced over at the boy.

Andreas hesitated a moment before answering with just a nod.

"Great," Daniel smiled, standing up, "then show me where you've been exploring."

Andreas tilted a considering look up at him then carefully tied the now empty cloth bundle closed before standing up. Tucking the cloth into his pants pocket and picking up the bottle in his hand he lead Daniel further along the path by the river.

"Have you been to a lot of other planets?" Andreas broke the silence after a few minutes.

"Yeah I have." Daniel replied

"Why?" Andreas shot a glance up at him.

"Well… it's my job... we explore places, meet new people, learn about their societies and when I'm really lucky there are old buildings for me to study so I can learn about the history of the people too."

"Like the ones you came to see near my town that no one lived in anymore because they were falling apart."

"Yeah, just like those."

"Did you understand what was written in those books?"

"Some. I wish I'd had more time with them."

"We could go back!"

Daniel looked down at the boy. "Well no, Andreas, you know we can't, everything is buried in fresh lava."

The boy dropped his gaze to the ground with a sad nod.

"But that's not to say it wouldn't ever be possible," Daniel offered, trying to lighten the boy's disappointment, "there're lots of places on Earth that have been excavated 20, 30 years after they've been buried by lava. Maybe when you're grown up you'll be able to go back to your town and uncover those buildings."

Andreas looked back up at him with a stunned expression, "**I** might?"

"Sure, why not."

The boy's bright blue eyes lit up, "Can you teach me how?"

"I could some, but going to school to learn how would be better."

Andreas's face fell. "We don't have a school anymore."

Daniel patted him on the shoulder, "Give it some time. I'm sure once you're all settled here the elders will set up some sort of school again."

"In the meantime though" he added hastily, wanting to see the boy look a little less dejected, "I can show you some of the basics if you like. I mean we know this planet isn't deserted," he paused briefly to survey their surroundings, "and bodies of water like this river attract all sorts of creatures, so on our way back to the camp we can look around and see what we can find. E_ndaksee_?"

With a shy smile Andreas nodded in agreement. Dropping his hand over the boy's shoulder Daniel gave it a quick squeeze as he turned the boy back in the direction of the encampment.

**Mar 2012**

"Good afternoon Dr. Jackson."

Daniel raised his eyes from the magnifying glass he'd been using to examine the scroll on his worktable to Jack O'Neill lounging against the frame of the office door.

"Good afternoon, MR. O'Neill," he said pointedly with a faint smirk.

Since retiring for good when his daughter was born Jack had been adamant about not being addressed as "General". He became quite testy if someone did.

"What brings you by?" Daniel asked, returning his attention to the item on the worktable.

"Doctor's appointment for the kid," Jack responded sauntering over to the worktable and picking up an intricately carved stone statuette.

Daniel cast a watchful eye at his friends' fidgeting with the statue. "How is she?"

"Colicky," Jack replied with a sigh, putting down the figure and leaning against the workbench, "she's not sleeping much more than a coupla hours a night and almost nothing during the day…Carter's exhausted and I'm not much better."

"Sounds rough," Daniel cast a sympathetic glance up at his best friend.

He was pretty certain neither he nor Vala would ever completely get over not being able to have their own child but at that precise moment he really couldn't feel sorry to be missing the sleepless nights of having a newborn.

Jack shrugged. "Yeah well, such are the joys of a being a parent."

"But she's okay otherwise?" Daniel asked returning his attention to the script on the scroll.

"Oh yeah and judgin' by the cryin' she's got healthy lungs that's for sure," Jack pushed away from the table to wander around the room, "and I s'ppose after all the stuff that's been done to Sam and me we should be thankful there isn't more wrong with her…funny thing is ya know, I don't remember Charlie's first month being this bad," he gave a sharp laugh, "'course I think I was out of the country for most of his first coupla months so that's probably why I don't remember."

Daniel snorted a laugh, "Ya think?"

"Yeah well,'' Jack laughed with a shrug, dropping onto the stool across the worktable from Daniel.

Propping himself on his elbows he leaned forward and peered at Daniel.

"So how you guys doing?"

"Okay actually," Daniel nodded without looking up from the magnifying glass.

"And so what's the deal with your kids offworld? You still going through with that?

"Uhh yeah…Solon just let us know through Abbott last week that the other elders have agreed to meet with us so we're going to…uh" he paused to squint closer at the markings on the scroll.

"You're going to what?" Jack prompted after a moment of silence.

Daniel looked up at him suddenly, "Huh…what?"

Jack shook his head with a fond smirk. "You started to say something about meeting with the other town leaders."

Daniel's brow furrowed briefly, "Uhh…right…we're doing that later this week…it's Andreas's birthday anyway and since we promised we'd come for that then we'll talk with the other elders while we're there so we can start moving this forward."

Jack grinned, "Kid's birthday huh...any idea how old he is?"

Daniel glanced up at Jack with sly grin. "Uhh yeah, deka…at least according to Cybele anyway."

Jack shot back a smug grin, "So that'd be 10 wouldn't it?"

Daniel gave him a sour look.

"Uh yeah it would," he replied a little petulantly, going back to examining the scroll.

"Soooo," Jack singsonged dropping his head downward and forward to peer up at Daniel's gaze focused on his work, "planning' on gettin' him anything?"

Daniel studied the older man over the top of his glasses for a moment before flashing a bashful but self-satisfied smile and then setting the magnifying glass down on the scroll to pull open a lower drawer in the worktable.

"Already did," he said setting on the work surface a length of canvas wrapped up like a scroll.

Jack let a stream of air whistle out between his teeth.

"Now that looks familiar," he said unrolling the object to reveal a selection of brushes ranging from a couple of basic paint brushes, a small brush with fine, dark bristles, two or three small trowels and a spool of string tucked into individual pockets in the canvas.

Daniel leaned on the table with one elbow, cradling his chin in his hand.

"Yeah…it's not complete and I'm going to have to improvise a bit…I'll need to translate something on the basics so he'll be able to read it…but for the most part it's similar to the one my parents put together for me."

Pulling the brush with the dark bristles from the roll Jack tilted an eyebrow up at Daniel.

"Don't think you're being a mite presumptuous?" he asked, idly sweeping the soft brush back and forth across the back of his hand.

"Dunno," Daniel shrugged removing the brush from Jack fingers and precisely placing it back in the canvas roll, "he seemed interested when we were there in February."

Daniel pulled the packet towards himself and began to carefully roll it up.

"But…I mean…yeah it's possible that he's just interested because he's hoping that if he can put his town back to the way it was then his life will be normal again."

He shrugged again, focusing his attention on tying the packet close with a neat, precise bow.

"Can't say that I didn't have a similar notions that my life would've been normal again if I could've gotten back to Cairo."

"But, for the moment, whatever the reason," he continued, leaning down to put the roll back into the lower drawer, "his interest has created a connection between us."

The phone rang just as he was pushing the drawer shut with his foot.

"And that gives me a place to start," he said swinging off his stool to take the few steps across to answer the phone on his desk.

Dropping onto the chair he put the receiver to his ear.

"Daniel Jackson."

The voice at the other end of the line brought a smile to his face.

"Why hello MRS. O'Neill…what can I do for you?" he asked.

He paused raising his gaze to Jack.

"He is….I will," he replied, making a 'shooing' motion at Jack with his free hand.

With a nod of understanding Jack got off the stool, sketched a quick two finger salute against his forehead and strolled out of the room.

Daniel brought the receiver to his mouth again.

"'K…he's on his way. So how's Gracie doing'?"

Leaning back in his chair to listen to his younger 'sister' regale him with the joy and wonder and the exhaustion of having a newborn, he realized that for the first time in over a year he was feeling at peace and that there just might be light at the end of the tunnel.

**mid- Sept 2012** – Cybele's b-day

(47 & 41, 10 & 7)

Greek/English Glossary

_ekpliktos- _surprised

_orgi_ – anger, rage

_lypamai_**– **sorry

_xerato_ – vomit

_ypnos_ - sleep

_neh__ – _yes

_ochi__ - _no

_kalineekta_ - goodnight

"Dan-el?"

Daniel forced himself awake to find Cybele, standing at his side of the bed. Her face in the faint illumination from the hall light, even out of focus as it was for him, seemed anxious and pinched.

"Cyb?" he croaked, struggling to sit up, "wha's up…why're you awake?"

She frowned, started to say something then promptly threw up. On him. On the bed. On the carpet. An odor reminiscent of the ice cream and cake that had been part of her birthday dinner rose up around them.

"Aww crap" he yelped, struggling to not gag on the aroma, "damnit Cybele…a little warning huh?

"_L..lypamai_ Dan'el," she sobbed, "_ly_…

Before she could say more she heaved over him a second time.

"Shhhiii…" he hissed between clenched teeth, blinking furiously against the lights suddenly turning on."

"Dannn'eelll," the little girl wailed, reaching out as if to wipe away the mess off his arm, "…_ochi _ _orgi_…_ ochi_ _orgi_?"

"No my darling, no " Vala soothed, grabbing the girl's hand away from residue splattered across Daniel's arm, "he's not angry…just surprised…c'mon let's get you to the bathroom shall we?...can you make it without throwing up again?"

The little girl, her face awash with tears nodded shakily up at Vala. Giving her shoulder a gentle reassuring squeeze Vala guided the little girl to the bathroom.

"Can you find her some clean pajamas or something Daniel?" she asked over her shoulder just before she shut the bathroom door.

"Yeah…sure," he muttered, staring at his predicament, still a little dazed by the abruptness of what had just happened.

It wasn't as if he hadn't been thrown up on before; what with dealing with teammates with concussions or friends in college drinking too much. It had even happened at 2am before. He'd just never experienced it as a part of his waking up process before.

Heaving a heavy sigh that he instantly regretted because it made him gag, he gingerly lifted up his t-shirt by the hem to pull it off over his head, turning it inside out in the process. Carefully he wiped away the mess on his arm with a clean portion of the shirt then delicately caught the sodden edge of the blanket between a chunk of the t-shirt and pushed the whole mess into the centre of the bedding that was headed straight for the washing machine. Letting out a weary breath at the prospect of doing laundry at 2am, he squinted down at the carpet before easing his feet to the floor where he hoped there was no residue.

To his relief his feet met only dry carpet. He shifted forward to snag his glasses off the nightstand, only to feel his toes slid into a splotch of wetness. Uttering a sound of disgust, he moved his foot back to what he knew was a dry spot while fishing out from under the bed with the other foot the beat-up moccasins he scuffed around the house in. Happily they showed no sign of being in the line of fire. Pausing to swipe his damp toes against the carpet, he shoved his feet into moccasins and stood just as the bathroom door opened.

"Daniel! Something for her to wear please!" Vala said impatiently, "I'm going to put her in the shower for a few moments and I don't want her getting cold afterward."

"Yes, yes!" he replied testily, sliding his glasses on, "just give me a minute wouldja? I've had a couple of my own issues to deal with here."

"Fine," she huffed, "just don't take too long."

"Yes dear," he muttered under the sound of the bathroom door closing.

He shuffled down the hall to Cybele's bedroom, musing on the realities of parenthood. It wasn't as if he hadn't realized there were going to be nights like this. Although he did have to admit it'd been in a detached kind of a way. It was more that creating this relationship over the last few months with the two kids had been almost effortless thus far. After his own childhood experience with the adoptive process, he was astonished at how easily the four of them were meshing into a family unit. So this first foray into the less than pleasant side of parental responsibilities was a rude awakening.

"_Literally," _he thought wryly, opening a drawer of Cybele's dresser.

Pulling in a breath, then expelling it all at once in a rush he began sorting through the masses of fabric.

"Daniel?" from behind him suddenly, made him jump.

He cast a glance over his shoulder to Andreas standing in the bedroom door looking bleary-eyed

"Hey there," he greeted. "Commotion woke ya huh?"

Rubbing his eyes sleepily, Andreas nodded as he crossed the room to where Daniel stood.

He peered at the boy.

"You okay?" he asked concerned that the odd pinched look meant they were about to have two sick kids on their hands.

"_Neh_," the boy said absently staring at what Daniel was holding.

He looked up at Daniel with a frown.

"Whataya doing…why's everyone awake?"

"Well uhh…your sister's been sick a couple of times and right now I'm trying to find her clean pajamas."

"Sick?" Andreas's puzzled frown deepened.

Daniel paused, searching for a word the boy would recognize.

"Umm…_ xerato_ ?"

Andreas's blue eyes widened in fright.

'W…will she die?"

Daniel's heart twisted with sympathy. After so many losses and upheavals in less than a year it wasn't surprising the kid was fearful of another one.

"No, 'Drea," he said squatting down to Andreas's eye level, "I think it might be what Jack was suggesting; she ate too much stuff at her party tonight. I'm pretty sure she'll be fine by morning and if she isn't then we'll take her in to see Dr. Lam. _E__ndaksee_ ? I promise we'll take care of her."

Andreas nodded with a wobbly smile.

"_E__ndaksee__,_" Daniel smiled back laying a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder and then leaned closer, his smile twitching into a smirk, "but don't tell Jack I admitted that he might be right about something."

Andreas's uncertain smile brightened and he giggled.

"Good boy," Daniel chuckled patting Andreas's shoulder as he stood up, "Now can you take yourself back to bed while I get this," he gestured with the mass of bright pink fabric in his hand, half wondering if he should be concerned about the implications of the words "princess in training" scrawled in sparkly white script across the silky garment, "to Vala before she gets truly annoyed? I can come back, though, and stay with you for awhile if you want."

Andreas squinted at him with a blossoming expression of distaste. He shook his head.

"_Ochi _– you smell bad."

Daniel grimaced, huffing a sharp laugh.

"Gee thanks…guess I should go take a shower instead huh?"

Andreas looked up him with a steady gaze.

"_N__eh_," was all he said.

"Good night Andreas." Daniel chuckled, physically turning the boy and prompting him back in the direction of his own bedroom.

At the open door of the room, Daniel stopped him, curling a finger under the boy's chin to tip his face upward.

"Cybele will be fine 'Drea. I promise. _E__ndaksee?"_

With a sharp nod Andreas gave Daniel an awkward hug and then abruptly disappeared into the darkness of his room.

In the faint light from the hallway, Daniel watched until Andreas had settled back into bed.

"_Kalineekta_'Drea," he said softly.

"_Kalineekta_Daniel," came the sleepy reply as he pulled the door closed just enough to let in light from the hallway.

Feeling ridiculously pleased with himself that he'd successfully soothed Andreas's unease, he made his way back to the master bathroom.

The door was seemingly yanked open before he'd barely even touched his knuckles to it.

"Finally!" Vala snapped, grabbing the garment from his hand, "what took you so long…how hard can it be to retrieve a single piece of clothing from a drawer?"

He scowled at her. "Oh well excuse me, but I was dealing with a brother concerned about his sister."

"Oh!" she said in surprise, her peevishness seeming to evaporate instantly, "sorry…didn't realize he was awake."

"Mmmm," Daniel replied, "all the activity woke him."

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. Went back to bed once he knew Cybele would be okay. And she will be, right?" he directed a questioning eyebrow over Vala's shoulder to the little figure sitting on the floor by the bathtub, engulfed by a jet-black bath sheet.

Vala nodded, backing away from the door and turning in Cybele's direction.

"Oh yeah, she's almost asleep now."

'Okay, good," Daniel nodded, "'k I'm gonna toss that mess," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the mound of sheets in the middle of the bed, "into the washer and then take a shower…because according to Andreas I smell funny."

Darting a teasing look at him Vala leaned closer and inhaled. She wrinkled her nose at him.

"Yes, you do."

Daniel resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her.

"Ha ha," he grimaced, "I'll just go then shall I; seeing as I'm offensive."

Nodding with a giggle, she closed the door between them

With a weary sigh, he turned and eyed the bed. He really wanted to lie down and go back to sleep but the state of the sheets made that an unpleasant prospect. Gathering the sheets, blanket, pillowcases and his t-shirt into a bundle, he trudged along the hallway and down the stairs; blinking against the bright blasts of light triggered by the motion control sensors along his trek to the laundry room at the back of the house.

Leaving the sound of the running washing machine behind him, he took the stairs back to the second floor, anticipating being able to lay down on clean sheets, wrap his arms around his wife, and go back to sleep.

The door of Cybele's bedroom standing slightly ajar, rather than wide open told him she was back in bed. He paused, pushing the door open only slightly, meaning to only glance in to check on her. Seeing the child nestled in the bed with Vala's arms around her sparked a moment of pique that not only had he been the one to strip the bed, he was also apparently going to be the one to remake it as well. The twinge of irritation was almost immediately pushed aside by a surge of tenderness for the mother Vala was proving herself to be.

"Are you going to say something or just stand there watching us?" came her husky murmur from the bed.

"Sorry," he whispered, crossing the room and dropping to his knees beside the bed, "didn't want to disturb you…thought you might be asleep already too."

"Comin' back to bed?" he asked, sliding a gentle hand over Cybele's silky spill of hair.

"No," she shook her head, "I want to keep an eye on her."

"'K," he said, getting to his feet, "see you in the morning then."

Stooping forward over the child in her arms, he slid a hand along her cheek, tipping her face up to his.

"Love you," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her.

Her mouth opened under his and for a moment he was lost in its sweet heat. Until a sleepy, little voice uttering "mama" made Vala pull away from him, her eyes wide with surprise. Her gaze dropped to the little girl curled against her.

"Yes darling?" she whispered.

"Tell… Dan'el…to _ypnos_."

Daniel laughed softly, dropping a kiss on her head.

'Okay little one, I'm going. _Kalineekta_."

Her response was a barely audible drowsy mumble.

"Night," he said pressing a kiss to Vala's forehead too, "hope you both sleep well."

Emerging from the bathroom a while later, wide awake and smelling only of soap, he was surprised to find the bed remade with Vala ensconced in her usual spot.

"What happened to staying with Cyb?" he said, managing to slide in beside her without encountering the wet spots on the carpet.

"She's feeling better…she kicked me out," she replied snuggling against him, "said I was taking up too much space."

He smothered a laugh in her hair, "Well you can be a bit of a bed hog."

Levering herself up on her elbow, she stuck her tongue out at him, then turned onto her side facing away from him.

He followed her motion, spooning in behind her until the curve of her rear was nestled into his groin.

"But you can sprawl all over me and my bed anytime you want," he murmured slipping his hand under the hem of the short satin boxers she wore, his fingers grazing through the cloud of curls between her legs.

"Daniel," she admonished, squirming away from his touch, "you have a briefing at 8am."

He shifted closer, pressing his advantage because he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yes," he agreed, slowly rubbing his groin against her ass, "but we're both wide awake and I can't think of a better way to put ourselves back to sleep."

She snorted a laugh, turning back to face him.

"You know one of these days I'm going to tell everyone about your true libidinous nature."

He smirked at her, shaking his head.

"No you won't."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh and why not?"

"'Because," he murmured leaning closer to press kisses down her throat, "you like that you know me in ways no one else does,"

He leaned back a moment later because she was failing to respond to his nuzzling.

"What?" he asked to her thoughtful expression.

"You know you'll need to apologize to Cybele in the morning don't you?"

He pulled further back from her, frowning.

"Umm…I do?"

"Yes, she thought you were really angry…you've never spoken to her like that before."

"Oh," he said, his frown deepening with concern, "yeah…guess I was a little rough…I was just…just startled is all…not angry."

Vala nodded, "I know that, but you need to explain it to her."

'Yeah…okay…yeah I will," he said softly,

She beamed at him, "Good, thank you. Now," she purred, closing the space between them to press herself against him, "about your libidinous nature."

**May 2013 **

**(47 & 42, 7 & 11)**

Vala pulled the front door shut behind her, pausing to zip up her purple hoodie while she watched Daniel coach the two children on the intricacies of bicycle riding. Despite his initial apprehension of the whole concept of adopting the kids he was proving to be a natural at parenting. Just like she'd known he would be. His patience in dealing with her own less than exemplary behavior had brought her to that conclusion long ago. She had been expecting though for it to be their own children that he'd be parenting.

The pain of that loss stabbed at her. She squeezed her eyes shut, letting the wave of sorrow wash over her. She'd learned that riding the ache out was the only way to cope to with it; if she tried to squelch it or ignore it, it would linger, dragging down her entire being. The agony had at least become less debilitating. After two years, she no longer broke down in tears at the mere thought of the beautiful little boy they'd lost. Nicholas Robert; named for Daniel's two grandfathers. She'd never known any of her own grandparents and there'd never been any chance she was going to bestow on her father the honour of being a namesake for Daniel's son. Not that it ended up mattering to her in the long run. She'd only gone along with Daniel and the grief counselor at the hospital insisting that they formally name the baby. She'd been too numb and exhausted to argue. Now she wondered if they hadn't done it if she would've ever been able to move beyond the sorrow. She did know for certain though that if Daniel hadn't stubbornly refused to let her go when she announced she was leaving, she would most likely now be leading a desperate life running scams from some sleazy joint at the edge of the galaxy. Instead she was living a 'happily-ever-after' life with the sweetest, sexiest man she'd ever known and two children who were slowly filling the void left by the two children she'd lost.

Stepping off the porch Vala began a slow saunter down the driveway, eyeing with deep appreciation the taut stretch of Daniel's sweatshirt across his broad shoulders. Definitely the sexiest. Even almost ten years after their first meeting she still couldn't resist the temptation to fluster him.

"Well," she drawled, stopping beside him, "I fail to see how sex is anything like that."

Daniel turned from watching Andreas and Cybele practice their newly learnt cycling skills on the sidewalk in front of the house, to stare at her in disbelief

"P…pardon?" he spluttered

She shrugged, barely suppressing the satisfied smirk at the familiar expression of bafflement on his face.

"Well that's what Cameron claimed when I told him what we were doing this weekend. He said that riding a bicycle was a lot like sex, but I don't see any connection between that round and round motion," she flapped a hand at the children's pedaling motion, "and sex…although," she paused, watching the motion thoughtfully, "I imagine doing that a lot would give your legs a lot of stamina…"she left the sentence to hang, sliding a sideways glance down Daniel's torso to his thighs.

He folded his arms across his chest and regarded her over the top of his glasses with a skeptical eyebrow.

"Vala, he didn't actually mean that riding a bike is physically like sex…he was more likely referring to the expression that sex is like riding a bike which is meant to convey the ideas that once you learn how to do either one you never forget."

"Oh, I see," she answered snugging herself up to him and tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow, "so I take it, then, that you're an expert bicycler too?"

"The word is cyclist…and yes of course I am," he said turning his attention back to the children, a breezy smirk making the dimples in his cheeks flutter.

"And you will be too, in no time," he added, gesturing at the fluorescent green and black women's 10-speed bike propped up on a kickstand in the middle of the driveway.

Vala eyed the contraption with a measure of unease. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Daniel had been so taken with the notion of the four of them riding around on these bicycles that she got swept up in his enthusiasm but now she wasn't so sure. She could figure out how to fly just about any kind of spacecraft found in the galaxy, but it seemed likely that this flimsy metal creation was going to separate her from her dignity quite quickly.

She patted his arm, "Really darling, there's no hurry. I wouldn't dream of taking your attention away from the children."

"Ahh, no problem…the kids could do with a break," he replied, stepping away from her.

"Hey guys," he called, waving an arm at the kids, "Vala's turn doncha think?"

Andreas and Cybele greeted that suggestion with an enthusiastic, "Yeah."

"There, ya see…no problem," he said flashing a smile at her as he crossed the driveway to the bike.

"Great!" she said hiding her nerves with a bright smile.

He held out the helmet that had been slung from a handle bar. She looked at him with distaste.

"You don't actually expect me to wear that?"

"Yes."

"Daniel, it's hideous and it'll wreck havoc with my hair."

"And not wearing it could wreck havoc with your head if you wipe out."

Vala took a step back in alarm.

"Wipe out?"

Daniel shrugged nonchalantly, "Could happen…not likely though… you're athletic and well coordinated…the helmet's just a precaution more than anything…sets a good example for them too," he gestured at Andreas and Cybele just wheeling their bikes onto the driveway."

"Fine," she grumbled, taking the helmet and setting it on her head.

"And you have one of these things too," she said, snapping the chin strap closed.

He looked at her like she was nuts.

"Vala I've been able to ride since I was Cybele's age; I don't think I need a helmet."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh so you shouldn't be trying to set a good example too?"

He stared at her for a moment, started to say something then stopped.

"Fine," he sighed in exasperation, "I'll get a helmet."

She beamed at him, "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered flapping a dismissive hand at her as he turned to dislodge her bike from its kickstand.

"Now, here" he motioned her to take the bike handlebars, "walk this down to the sidewalk."

"Don't I need to have those extra wheel thingies attached first?" she pointed at the training wheels attached to the kids' bikes.

"Vala," he said with a gentle laugh, "training wheels are meant for little kids just learning how to ride."

"Well," she huffed, steering the bike onto the sidewalk, "I'm just learning aren't I?"

"Well yes," he conceded, coming to a stop on the opposite side of the bike from her, "but you're an adult and in the length of time we've known each other I've never seen you have issues with balance or coordination so I'm not expecting you to have any problems picking this up."

He eyed her carefully, "You know, if I didn't know better I'd say this is making you nervous."

"Don't be ridiculous darling," she said with a brilliant smile, "I have yet to find a mode of transportation that I can't master…no matter how," she paused with a quick survey of the bicycle, "primitive."

"Exactly," he leaned towards her with a reassuring smile, "so trust me you'll be a natural."

He straightened and motioned at the handlebars, "Okay now just like you did in the store; grab the handles, step over the crossbar and boost yourself up onto the seat."

Giving him a wary sidelong look, she straddled the crossbar and pushed herself up onto the seat. Instantly, she, and everything around her tilted and wobbled at an alarming angle.

"Daniel!" she yelped, grabbing at him in panic.

"It's okay," he soothed, "Just relax, I've got ya."

She turned her head and peered at him closely, trying to discern if she was imagining the amusement in his voice.

"You could have warned me there weren't inertial dampeners," she said smacking his arm.

"Inertial dampeners!" he said in disbelief, his eyebrows almost rising into his hairline, "are you kidding me? Just where on this thing did you think there would be inertial dampeners?"

She gave him what she hoped was a beguiling smile and shrugged.

"Anyhoo," he sighed in exasperation, still shaking his head, "moving on…put your feet on the pedals."

She shot him an uncertain look.

"It's fine," he sighed again, "I won't let go until you're ready. Okay?"

She twisted her mouth into a 'moue' of thought but nodded as she placed her feet on the pedals.

'Okay, good," he nodded in satisfaction and began to walk the bike forward, "now the key to this is speed and balance…you have to maintain enough speed for the bike to stay balanced and upright…Okay?"

She nodded without taking her eyes off watching her feet on the pedals going around in synch with the wheels of the bike,

"Okay good. Now bear down on the pedals with your feet and you'll start the bike moving forward."

She did as instructed, feeling the movement of the bike quicken as she applied more pressure to the pieces of medal under her feet.

"Good, that's it," Daniel said quietly as he began to jog beside her, "but you do need to look away from your feet so you can see where you're going."

"Oh!"she said with a start, raising her gaze to his with a sheepish smile, "right."

"S'okay," he said with a smile, "just keep pedalling… you're doin' great. The only other thing you need to know, I think, is how to stop, so give those levers under your hands a squeeze and you'll feel the tires slow."

Again she followed instructions and felt an immediate restriction on the movement of the wheels.

"Good," Daniel said, "just remember to use a gentle touch on the brakes…if you squeeze too hard, too fast the bike will stop suddenly and you'll go flying over the handlebars."

She shot a glance of alarm at him. She was up for most things and she didn't usually back away from a challenge as long as it didn't threaten her physically, but as she'd suspected from the start, this was likely to end with damage to her well-being.

With the grim determination that she wasn't going to let this crude device get the best of her, she re-focused her efforts on increasing the speed of the bicycle; which was suddenly inexplicably more difficult than it had been before.

"Uhh," Daniel offered quietly, "you'll need to let go of the brakes."

She made a derisive sound of annoyance, shifted her hands off the brake levers and pushed hard against pedals. With the sudden surge of momentum the bike shot forward and then began to wobble. She squawked in panic.

"Easy…easy," Daniel soothed, grabbing and steadying the bike, "just relax…you're doin' fine…don't over-steer…just aim the wheel straight and then keep increasing your speed. I won't let go until I think you're ready. Alright?"

Nodding, she pushed against the pedals, concentrating on keeping the bike aimed in a straight line while increasing its speed. At an instant when the bike was beginning to wobble again, inexplicably she suddenly understood the mechanics. With a burst of confidence she pushed harder into the pedals and was rewarded with bike righting itself and surging forward out of Daniel's grasp. She didn't dare chance a glance backwards at him for fear of losing control of what she'd just achieved.

This was unlike anything she'd ever done before. She had piloted spacecraft going light-speed velocities but engines had generated those speeds, not her. The closest thing she'd ever done to have the wind whipping through her hair like this was running at top speed…which was usually when someone was chasing her. This, though, was so much more efficient…and almost effortless. She couldn't help thinking that having one of these at her disposable would've made running away from those people so much easier. This was exhilarating and freeing at a fundamental level. It was almost like flying. She didn't want to stop.

Too soon, though, she was back within view of the house. Too soon she also realized that she was going to have to bring the bike to a stop without it falling over. The advantage of living on a crescent shaped street was that she'd only had to slow the bike down to take the curves; she hadn't actually had to slow down completely to negotiate a 900 corner. How she was going to manage to bring the bike to a complete stop without it ending painfully for her, she had no idea.

Catching her bottom lip between her teeth she gently began squeezing the handbrakes closed. Gradually the bike slowed. Then it began to wobble. Frantically she tried to keep the bike in balance.

"Stop pedaling and just let it coast!" Daniel directed as he fell into pace beside her.

Grimly she nodded, breathing a sigh of relief once the bicycle was no longer threatening to fall over. It came to a stop moments later with the help of Daniel's steadying grasp of the frame. She directed a brilliant triumphant smile up at him, ignoring the tight set to his mouth and the familiar creases of irritation between his eyes.

He shook his head. "Ya know there are still times when I don't know whether to strangle you or kiss you."

Beaming at him, she patted his cheek with her hand.

"Kiss, darling…always kiss. Anything else would traumatize the children."


End file.
